Tageblatt published an article on Monday morning that included two investigative documents from the disciplinary commission, which were also submitted to the municipal council of Hesperange. Said documents reveal further details about the embezzlement case and the criminal intent of both employees.
The suspects had undergone significant efforts to forge bank accounts and transfer money from the local administration, a strategy they apparently employed from the 1980s onward. Le Quotidien accordingly showed in an article how a total of €2.3 million were transferred to the companies SICO-H and ARLUX, with current estimations suggesting that this sum might be even higher.
The name SICO-H was chosen to recreate a fraudulent version of a union, without having any link to the Hesperange association, apart from an old bank account that was used in the embezzlement process.
Marc Lies, the mayor of Hesperange, remains appalled by the audacity of the former employees. Nevertheless, he shows concern about the leak of the documents, noting that the municipal council met behind closed doors.
Lies further underlines the detrimental effects the case had on the municipality, since the crime stretched over several decades. Both employees were suspended in July and now have to await the outcome of the remaining investigative process.
Both men were moreover members of the union they scammed, which has now distanced itself from both individuals to reestablish its operations and responsibilities, for instance the camping in Alzingen.
One of the suspects, who is known in the world of arts, justified his crimes by explaining that he needed the means to finance his extravagant life style, thereby accepting the "necessary risk".
A judge will decide which consequences both former employees have to face in the criminal case.
Suspicion of embezzlement and forgery
Two Hesperange municipal employees placed in provisional detention in embezzlement scandal
