A court case against the managing director of a Lüdenscheid company reveals a variety of alleged offenses. He is said to have delayed the bankruptcy using strange methods.
The operations manager of a metal processing company in Lüdenscheid is on trial for a variety of allegations. The local news portal “come-on.de” reports on the trial in the economic criminal chamber of the regional court. It is important to clarify when the company became insolvent and whether there was a delay in insolvency.
The allegations against the 54-year-old company manager include, in addition to delaying insolvency, the withholding and embezzlement of employee social security contributions. The defendant confessed to regularly withdrawing cash from the company account in order to pay illegal workers their wages. Despite this practice, the company’s financial situation did not improve.
The company had no fleet, land, fixed assets or reserves. Horrible rent arrears had accumulated. The tax office and social security institutions demanded a total of 185,000 euros. The presiding judge, Andreas Behrens, expressed his astonishment that the company continued to operate despite high levels of debt.
A witness confirmed in the court hearing that the material assets in the company were surprisingly low. According to the insolvency administrator, tools and machines were valued at one euro and land and buildings were rented. Valuable items were either missing or probably belonged to customers. This is what “Come-on.de” reports.
The company’s finances were opaque. Two obviously fake invoices for alleged renovation work were presented in order to conceal the cash withdrawals to pay for undeclared work. According to the news portal, a witness to the trial concluded that “the money must always have been there – we don’t know through which channels.”
The Dresden lawyer Hermann Kulzer, a specialist in insolvency law, explains on “Anwalt.de” that extensive investigations are necessary to prove intentional delay in insolvency. Managing directors are obliged to file for insolvency within three weeks as soon as they discover insolvency or excessive indebtedness.
However, according to Kulzer, only 60 percent manage to do this on time, often due to ignorance or denial of their financial situation. Consciously concealing an impending insolvency can result in up to three years in prison or high fines as well as a ban on activity.
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