The Berlin I Regional Court has ordered the confiscation of a property and other assets (case reference: 502 KLs 27/21). The basis for this was the suspicion of money laundering against the owner of the property, among others. The Berlin public prosecutor's office had suspected the accused of having invested illegally acquired funds in real estate in order to conceal their origin. Despite the criminal investigation being closed in 2020 due to a lack of evidence, the public prosecutor's office sought to initiate independent confiscation proceedings.
Independent confiscation proceedings are also possible without criminal proceedings. The following conditions must be met: The court must be convinced that the assets originate from criminal offenses committed no more than 30 years ago. In the case described above, the court had to take extensive evidence to clarify whether the financing of the properties was actually the result of criminal offenses. The taking of evidence lasted 43 days, during which witnesses were heard and requests for legal assistance were made to Lebanon, among other things.
In the end, the court came to the conclusion that the properties had been financed with illegally obtained assets. The court did not believe that the funds came from an inheritance in Lebanon. The judgment is not yet final and can be appealed.source: berlin.de/AZ: 502 KLs 27/21
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