The now 20 defendants are accused of having declared flawless beer as broken goods and sold it secretly between 2009 and 2017. One of the main suspects is a former cellar master who admitted to stealing beer, albeit on a much smaller scale than the indictment states.
Of the initially 24 accused, one fell ill, one case was dropped, one was settled diversionally and three accused have since been acquitted. Of the 18 remaining men, six are believed to be the main perpetrators. One of them was the focus of the questioning on the second day of the hearing.
Former butler charged
It was one of the former cellar masters who was responsible for arranging the employees and checking the loads. He also had to check and note the broken goods. Judge Andreas Rom wanted to explain exactly this topic in more detail.
“A forklift driver drives into something, and then 16 pallets are broken,” the accused described how the breakage came about in the first place. “How were you informed about this?” the judge asked. “Most of the time you heard that,” came the reply. This so-called broken goods were then stored in another hall, from where they were picked up by another company. “But I have never carried out apparent rupture reports,” emphasized the accused.
Business prospered for years
However, he admitted that he had stolen beer in 2015 and 2016. He took the goods from the scrap site, cleaned them and then drove the pallets to the self-service shop, from where an in-the-know employee picked them up and brought them to his home. From there he resold them – very cheaply. Forklift drivers, shop employees and other participants received money or a few crates of beer, and the illegal business flourished for years. “It was a self-service shop par excellence,” the judge stated.
After all, there were cash payments in the amount of 400,000 euros in the accused’s account, the origin of which did not come from regular earnings at the brewery. “I can’t explain it,” said the ex-cellar master.
The trial will continue on Wednesday with further questioning.
Source: Nachrichten
