The Bochum Public Prosecutor’s Office has brought charges against two men for alleged billing fraud in several corona test centers in the amount of 25 million euros. According to the prosecutors, the managing director of the MediCan company is said to have “billed the multiple of the tests actually carried out” between March and April. Previously, he had recognized “that in the context of the settlement, due to the pandemic-related peculiarities, there was no immediate need for evidence of the actual provision of the tests”. In addition, he is said to have wrongly billed the individual tests as a medical service provider and thus at a higher price and to have communicated material costs that he should not have incurred.
Reiner Burger Political Correspondent in North Rhine-Westphalia.
The second accused – the son of the managing director – is accused of aiding and abetting fraud. According to the prosecutors, he recognized in his function as a formal managing director of MediCan at the latest after the March remuneration that the tests had not been properly billed. Nevertheless, he accepted that the following settlement would not take place properly.
License to print money?
In the spring, countless test centers were set up all over Germany. There was no mass vaccination at the time. In times of relatively high incidence values, the nationwide and at that time still free so-called citizen tests were the only way to secure cautious openings of shops and events. The testing business was limited in time, but it was equally clear that it would be highly profitable – some spoke of a license to print money. Concrete evidence of dubious machinations then emerged through joint research by NDR, WDR and Süddeutscher Zeitung. Unlike the local authorities, the three media took the trouble to post employees in front of MediCan test centers for customer counting in several cities. When comparing with the settlements, glaring differences were noticed.
