In the fraud proceedings involving the former managers of the liquidated Elsflether Werft AG, the Oldenburg Regional Court handed down the last verdicts for the time being on 1 October 2024. A former shipyard board member must go to prison.
The proceedings centred on corruption, fraud, breach of trust and bribery, among other things. The trial was originally scheduled to last 40 days. However, due to the extensive confessions of the two defendants, fewer witnesses had to be questioned so that the judgements could be pronounced after just 18 trial days.
Main defendant
The former Elsflether shipyard in the district of Wesermarsch had been commissioned with the refurbishment of the training sailing ship "Gorch Fock", among other things. The costs had exploded and inconsistencies in the business behaviour of the shipyard management had come to light. According to the Osnabrück public prosecutor's office, the two former shipyard board members allegedly negotiated discounts with subcontractors without passing these discounts on to the navy. The management had enriched itself with the surplus of around 7.2 million euros. Among other things, the former board member, together with his partner, the co-accused former authorised signatory, had granted loans totalling millions and thus violated the German Banking Act. An auditor of the Wilhelmshaven naval arsenal was also bribed with a loan totalling around 800,000 euros.
The former shipyard board member was sentenced to four years in prison for embezzlement and fraud in a particularly serious case as well as delaying insolvency, while the former authorised signatory was given a one-year suspended prison sentence.
Aerial photograph 2012, Elsflether shipyard. Photo: CC BY-SA 3.0
Separate procedures
Originally, six defendants were on trial. The proceedings against the second former member of the Executive Board were discontinued for the time being due to his illness. Proceedings against three defendants were severed so that the Oldenburg Regional Court was able to announce the verdicts in May 2024. The auditor was sentenced to a suspended prison sentence of one year and ten months for accepting benefits. The 67-year-old must also pay back the money from the loan and the bogus invoices - around 837,000 euros. Two defendants from a subcontractor of Elsflether Werft, a 54-year-old man and a 38-year-old woman, were sentenced to fines for granting advantages.
New beginning
This brought an inglorious end to over 100 years of shipyard history, including in legal terms. Following the takeover of the Elsflether Werft shipyard by the Lürssen Group in 2019, the shipyard was closed in 2020 and sold to two regional investors in 2021, who will use the site for their own expansions. Repairs, handling and services in the industrial and shipping sectors are offered to interested companies. The site is managed by the newly founded "Neue Elsflether Werft GmbH".
Source: NDR, NWZ
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