On Wednesday, two investigators from the judicial police explained how fraud valued over €5 million was allegedly committed between 2000 and 2019 in the municipality of Hesperange.
The affair broke out in summer 2019, when the compensation transferred by an insurance company did not arrive at the municipality. Investigations revealed that the money had gone to a different account than the one of the commune. Shortly afterwards, the town hall filed a complaint for embezzlement and forgery.
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Three people were prosecuted, including two former civil servants, now aged 53 and 56, and a 62-year-old company director. The two civil servants had been placed in preventive detention, one of them is now free under judicial constraint.
The two former municipal servants allegedly lined their pockets in various ways via two fictitious companies: AEARLUX Sarl (Académie Européenne des Arts Luxembourg) and SICOH (Syndicat d’initiative de la commune de Hesperange). Invoices were issued in the name of these companies for work to be carried out within the municipality, such as maintenance work on heating or ventilation systems of a school.
The accused, who was responsible for the financial department of the Hesperange municipality, certified the invoices himself. The signatures of the payment mandate by the mayor, the aldermen, and the municipal secretary were thus considered a formality. A few months after the money arrived to the postal account of one of the fictitious companies, it was then transferred to the private account of the accused.
As the processes for certifying invoices became stricter from 2003 onward, the main defendant brought an accomplice on board. The accomplice, a former civil servant, is now also implicated in the case.
Additionally, real invoices were manipulated by the defendant through the use of computer software. For example, he completed major renovations to his properties and listed the work as other items on the invoice. Similarly, he explained to suppliers that the work was being completed for the municipality when the structures belonged to him.
The accused was also allegedly involved in the embezzlement of funds from an insurance company. The premiums and indemnities flowed into the accounts of the dummy companies before being transferred to private accounts. The accused had an overview of the insurance business as he himself managed the town’s portfolio as their agent.
The account information for the dummy companies was also used to embezzle the municipality’s funds of central government subsidies.
In addition to the two former municipal servants, a businessman is also accused of having consciously drawn up a false invoice. The municipality of Hesperange and the government have joined the trial as civil parties.
According to investigators, the main defendant owned several flats, houses, and expensive cars and illegally enriched himself with more than €3 million.
The second defendant, who joined these illegal activities in 2003, is said to have enriched themselves with more than €800,000.
On Wednesday morning, the trial began, with representatives from all the opposition parties of the Hesperange municipal council among the spectators.
