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FRAUD

Swede on trial for human smuggling in Ethiopia

The trial of a Swede indicted for human smuggling and fraud has begun in Ethiopia. The woman is also wanted in Sweden for social insurance fraud.

The legal process is expected to take six months and the woman risks a long prison sentence.

“It could be 15 to 25 years in prison,” prosecutor Jakob Holmberg told news agency TT. “The trial started yesterday and is being monitored by a person from the Swedish Ministry of Justice.”

The woman has been sought and was arrested in absentia since 2007. Currently, a Swedish police investigation is under way against her because she is suspected of having collected hundreds of thousands of kronor from the Social Insurance Agency (Försäkringskassan) in absentia.

For several years, she bluffed her way into hundreds of thousands of kronor in the form of cars, hotel nights and cash in Sweden. According to the prosecution, she stole the identities of several people. She also coerced a woman to take out substantial loans and then swindled her out of the money.

The woman was sentenced to probation for aggravated fraud at Gothenburg district court in 2005. In addition, Stockholm district court sentenced her to two and a half years in prison for the same offense the following year.

However, before the trial was completed, she managed to flee the country, according to the prosecution. She appealed to the Court of Appeal, which overturned the ruling on the basis of a formal error.

At the end of June, she was arrested in Ethiopia on suspicion of human smuggling and fraud. She is currently in custody in an Ethiopian prison.

“We cannot do much more,” said Holmberg. “We have requested her extradition. However, the Ethiopians want to prosecute her for the crimes she committed there.”

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GERMANY

Germany cracks down on fake Covid vaccine documents

German police have set up a special team to fight a growing number of forged vaccine certificates being sold in the black market

Germany cracks down on fake Covid vaccine documents
People who are fully vaccinated can show their vaccination booklet, which has a stamp and a sticker inside. Photo: Ina FASSBENDER / AFP

Police in Cologne have warned of a group of fraudsters selling fake vaccination certificates, a growing problem the scale of which is still unclear.

The police said the fraudsters worked in encrypted Telegram chats, making investigations difficult, and were selling fake documents with all the stamps and signatures, including a mark about vaccination with BioNTech or AstraZeneca.

READ ALSO: Germany probes Covid-19 testing centres for fraud

The fraud involved both real traffic in fake documents as well as scams luring customers into paying €100.

People in Germany who are fully vaccinated can show their vaccination booklet, which has a stamp and a sticker inside. Those who don’t have a booklet get a piece of paper.

Covid health passes are currently being rolled out across the EU, with a European health passport expected to be available from mid-June.

READ ALSO: What’s the latest on how the EU’s ‘Covid passports’ will work for travellers?

Over 44% of the adult population in Germany has received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, and more than 18% of Germans have been fully vaccinated.

German police have said forged coronavirus vaccine documents are becoming an increasing problem.

Last month, a couple in Baden-Württemberg was accused of selling fake coronavirus vaccination certificates.

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