Arafat Abou-Chaker raid: police secure millions of euros

Kleinmachnow / Berlin. Investigators carried out a large-scale raid on four suspects. They searched 18 apartments and business premises in Berlin, Brandenburg and Switzerland. The suspicion: “Large-scale tax offenses.” The setting: the rapper scene. They confiscated evidence and suspected clan money.

The property of the clan chief Arafat Abou-Chaker in Kleinmachnow (Potsdam-Mittelmark) was also searched on Tuesday morning. A total of 300 officers were on duty, including a special task force and the Berlin tax investigation team. “We are investigating fraud, money laundering, tax evasion and violation of tax regulation,” said a police spokesman for the Berliner Morgenpost. According to the police, there were no incidents: “Everything went well,” the spokesman continued.

Arafat Abou-Chaker raid: investigators suspect millions of criminal assets

The Berlin prosecutor announced that the searches were related to the suspicion of “tax offenses on a considerable scale” in relation to management services within the “rapeseed scene”. The investigation would be directed against four defendants, some of whom will be assigned to the area of ​​organized crime. In addition to the execution of the search warrants, the investigators had “arrest warrants” for several million euros. Until dusk it was unclear how much was confiscated.

Business documents and data carriers protected in the event of a raid

That is to say: the investigators moved with the objective of securing assets of several million euros. Further investigation should show how much it really was in the end. The prosecution only announced that commercial documents and data carriers were protected and had to be viewed and evaluated. The goal is to find evidence and seize assets.

In addition to the villa in Kleinmachnow, the objects also included an office complex on Puderstraße in Treptow. According to “BZ”, a law firm was also registered on Meinekestrasse in Charlottenburg. The arrest warrants were not carried out.

According to information from the Berliner Morgenpost, the investigation against Abou-Chaker has been ongoing for several months. A person in charge of the case said that the process was based on “secondary conclusions” of other processes and records, in which there were indications of possible tax crimes.

Read also: Bushido: the head of the Abou-Chaker clan received nine million euros

Increased action against criminal members of large families of Arab origin

Berlin’s red-red-green Senate had adopted a five-point plan against clan crime in November 2018. Since then, security authorities have taken action against criminal members of large families of Arab origin. These raids are often referred to as show events. The researchers say, however, that valuable insights are gained and the scene becomes increasingly nervous and mistakes are made. The head of the Berlin state police union (GdP), Norbert Cioma, commented on the operation: “Today’s measures are important, because the rule of law has to keep working to dry up the swamp. Clans like the Abou-Chakers have introduced a great deal of illegal money into the legal cycle in recent years. ”

Criminal clans would finance real estate and other luxury items with money from drug deals, extortion, and other sources of criminal income. “In our money laundering paradise, more than 100 billion euros are laundered a year,” said Cioma, calling for an increase in personnel and technology from the authorities and a complete reversal of the burden of proof for asset recovery. .

Arafat Abou-Chaker is currently on trial

Arafat Abou-Chaker and three of his brothers are currently facing further charges before the Berlin district court. The prosecution accuses them of illegally depriving rapper Anis Ferchichi, known as Bushido, of part of his property.

Abou-Chaker, who previously worked as Bushido’s manager, is said to have refused Bushido’s request for separation and to lock up his former business partner and hit him with a half-full plastic bottle. In court proceedings, Abou-Chaker has yet to comment on the allegations. The trial was suspended for mourning and will resume on September 30. (with dpa)

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