Mineral oil companies are said to have cheated in order to improve their carbon footprint. The Federal Environment Agency has filed a complaint. Now the police are taking action.
Police searched companies in North Rhine-Westphalia and Bavaria following indications of possible fraud in climate protection projects with which oil companies hope to improve their carbon footprint. The Berlin public prosecutor’s office announced that numerous documents were confiscated from company premises in Kerpen, Cologne and Langenbach last Friday.
More than 1.12 million euros in damage
According to a spokesperson, the authority is investigating 17 employees on suspicion of joint commercial fraud. The company’s managing directors and employees of testing centers are in the crosshairs. According to the public prosecutor’s office, there is a suspicion that false information was provided to the German Emissions Trading Authority (DEHSt). According to the current status, five projects are affected. Damage of more than 1.12 million euros is said to have been caused.
The Federal Environment Agency (UBA) filed a complaint with the public prosecutor’s office at the end of May. The authority, based in Dessau-Roßlau (Saxony-Anhalt), had previously examined information from whistleblowers on projects in China.
Certificates from German testing institutes
The mineral oil industry wants to meet legal climate protection requirements with projects to reduce emissions. They are certified by German testing institutes and approved by the UBA. Falsifying the projects could mean, for example, that the climate balance of the German transport sector is even worse than previously assumed.
After ZDF reported on the alleged fraud cases, the UBA spoke of the internal investigation. The agency spokesperson said at the end of May that they had asked the Chinese authorities for administrative assistance. “We have to do that because we have no sovereign rights in China.” The report to the public prosecutor’s office was filed for all possible offenses related to the events surrounding the projects carried out in China. Compared to the UBA, the public prosecutor’s office has completely different options for investigating.
Source: Stern
