A trial opened this week at the Tiergarten District Court, which shocked the Berlin administration. On the dock were Mirsad N. (52), a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Tomas H. (59), a long-time employee of the registration office, who are accused of mass falsification of applications and deregistrations of residence.
What for years looked like supreme dedication to the job, turned out to be an elaborate scheme to “fill the holes” in the residency statuses of foreign nationals.
The official worked according to the “directive” of the mediator from Bosnia and Herzegovina
The main defendant in this process is Tomas H., an office clerk in the Moabit district, who, according to the indictment, processed the requests forwarded to him by Mirsad N. without any checks or regulations. Mirsad N., the owner of an intermediary agency, found clients who were threatened with losing their residence permit or social assistance due to interruptions in their residence registration.
The price of this illegal service was the least 500 euros per client. The investigators suspect that the money was passed on to the official, and the indictment also mentions a bizarre detail – the official even asked Mirsad N. for a “donation” for his football club in exchange for further cooperation, although the money was not transferred in the end.
Unbelievable twist: The “hardest worker” was the leader of the fraud
The shock of colleagues and superiors was complete when the fraud was exposed. Namely, Tomas H. enjoyed the status of a “star” and exemplary worker in the office.
–Tremendous effect: He was praised by his superiors as extremely diligent as he handled significantly more cases than any other employee.
–Youth mentor: In addition to his regular work, he was even in charge of training new officers, to whom he imparted his “knowledge” of procedures.
–Balance of the indictment: He is accused of falsifying official documents in even 181 cases.
Court epilogue
Mirsad N. is charged with incitement to crime and corruption, while Tomas H. was suspended from work immediately after the investigation was launched. The trial before an expanded panel of jurors continues, and the case has raised serious questions about security checks within Berlin’s population registration services.
(TYPE/Source: N1/Photo: Screenshot/berliner-kurier.de)
