Dhe senior public prosecutor Alexander B., who is suspected of corruption, former press spokesman and head of the central office for medical criminal law of the Frankfurt public prosecutor’s office, has been in custody again since late Friday. As the public prosecutor’s office in Frankfurt, which is investigating the matter, announced in the evening, the 54-year-old B. was arrested in the afternoon and brought before the magistrate. According to the public prosecutor’s office, “further allegations were made to a considerable extent”. “Because of the significantly increased expectation of punishment, in addition to the continuing risk of collusion, there is now also the risk of flight as a reason for detention.”
B. is now under strong suspicion of commercial and continued serious bribery in 101 cases, commercial breach of trust in office in at least 55 cases and tax evasion in nine cases, committed between August 2015 and July 2020.
The senior public prosecutor was arrested for the first time in July 2020, at that time solely on suspicion of commercial corruption. He had been under investigation for months and was under surveillance after his former partner had pointed out that something was wrong with the issuing of expert opinions as part of his investigations into doctors, clinics and others. B. is said to have persuaded an acquaintance to set up a company in 2005 with the purpose of providing expert opinions for the judiciary. The company is said to have earned more than twelve million euros from 2010 to 2020 from orders from B. alone. B. is said to have earned something for this: more than 240,000 euros between 2015 and 2020.
The businessman arrested on suspicion of bribery was also taken into custody. In the course of the investigation, the group of suspects expanded, most recently eight people were mentioned. At the end of the year it became known that a close employee of B. was also being investigated on suspicion of aiding and abetting infidelity. The prosecutor has been suspended, as is usual when an official is under investigation.
Physicians accuse B. of only having generated procedures for billing fraud in order to make money. He put them under pressure and threatened to shut down the entire company to intimidate them. According to the doctors, B’s aim was to issue the most extensive expert opinions possible, and in the end the proceedings were often discontinued against payment of a fee. You paid because you just wanted to be left alone by B. In the meantime, B. was also investigated for coercion after corresponding criminal charges.
Exemption from detention causes resentment
After two months in custody, the officer was released from custody in September 2020 following a corresponding application by the public prosecutor. He was mostly confessing, it was said at the time to justify. The process led to disagreements between the public prosecutor’s office and the district court in Frankfurt. The investigating judge, it was said, was not convinced that there was no longer a risk of collusion, but felt compelled by the case law of the Federal Court of Justice to comply with the request of the public prosecutor. This contradicted and announced that the judge could have decided differently. B. At that time, it was made a requirement not to make any contact with other suspects or witnesses.
Now, in the statement from the public prosecutor’s office on Friday evening, there is talk of “continued risk of collusion” and additional risk of absconding as reasons for imprisonment, and no longer just commercial bribery, but also commercial infidelity in office. A whole group of prosecutors is investigating the case. Just a few days ago, the Hessian Justice Minister Eva Kühne-Hörmann (CDU) was accused in the state parliament of finally having to bring charges because the investigations had been going on for so long. It remains unclear whether the matter is now slowly being brought to a close and the extent of B’s alleged acts has been recorded and analyzed. Prosecutors said Friday night that more information would be released later in the week.
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