Subsidy fraud

Subsidy fraud is one was even deception regarding subsidy significant facts in relation to the subsidy donors by providing false information or certificates or use of cash or in kind against the subsidy significant restriction.

Offense

Subsidy fraud is regulated in Germany in Section 264 of the Criminal Code:

Provides incorrect or incomplete information to the competent authority
Usage restriction does not comply
Deception about facts relevant to the subsidy
Use of incorrect or incomplete certificate

Subsidy fraud has already been completed by the acts listed above. In contrast to fraud, alternative offenses 1, 3 and 4 do not presuppose a successful offense, i.e. the occurrence of damage .

Paragraphs 7 and 8 regulate what subsidies and facts relevant to subsidies are within the scope of Section 264 of the Criminal Code.

Penalty limits

Subsidy fraud is generally punished with imprisonment for up to five years or with a fine . In particularly serious cases, including the abuse of an official position and the intention to obtain subsidies on a large scale, paragraph 2 provides for imprisonment from 6 months to 10 years. In the case of a frivolous (instead of deliberate ) offense of the basic offenses of paragraph 1 No. 1–3, however, only imprisonment of up to three years or a fine is imposed.

Paragraph 6 regulates the side effects that the court can impose in addition to the penalty, for example it can deny the ability to hold public offices .

Active repentance

Anyone who voluntarily prevents the subsidy from being granted through active repentance shall not be penalized in accordance with paragraph 5.

Procedure of the perpetrator

Subsidy fraud is a widespread crime from the state level to the EU, and the damage to the economy as a whole is enormous. A repayment of the wrongly obtained funds often fails due to the insolvency of the respective company.

In principle, the perpetrators are often actually entitled to subsidy payments, but provide incorrect information about the calculation basis, for example about their livestock, the cultivated area or the investments made. Another case constellation is the inappropriate use of subsidies, in which the funds obtained are used for purposes other than those originally specified, for example for the payment of wages and salaries instead of the subsidized qualification of employees or for new investments instead of the site-specific refurbishment of existing industrial plants .

Individual evidence

↑ Markus Adick: On the concept of facts relevant to subsidies (Section 264 (8) of the Criminal Code). Discussion of the decision of the 5th Criminal Senate of the BGH of September 30, 2010, Az. 4 StR 150/10 = HRRS 2010 No. 1097 = NStZ-RR 2011, 82, HRRS 10/2011, 408.

[1] Markus Adick: On the concept of facts relevant to subsidies (Section 264 (8) of the Criminal Code). Discussion of the decision of the 5th Criminal Senate of the BGH of September 30, 2010, Az. 4 StR 150/10 = HRRS 2010 No. 1097 = NStZ-RR 2011, 82, HRRS 10/2011, 408.