The fraud process surrounding the insolvency of the wind farm developer Windreich is about to be concluded: On the 70th day of the negotiations, the defense demanded acquittal for company founder Willi Balz. Attorney Philipp Kauffmann said on Wednesday in front of the Stuttgart Regional Court that there had been no criminally relevant damage. The medium-sized company was always solvent. “There was liquidity.” At the same time, he criticized the fact that the indictment had been in court for years and that nothing had happened.
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The prosecutor had requested five years and three months imprisonment for courtship. She accuses him, among other things, of having made false statements in the 2010 balance sheet. The 60-year-old courtship confirmed in his closing words: “I have neither deceived nor cheated.” Rather, it was the search of the public prosecutor’s office in March 2013 that ultimately led to bankruptcy, he had previously argued. He saw himself as the victim of an intrigue.
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Windreich filed for bankruptcy in September 2013. However, the prosecution is of the opinion that the group of companies was insolvent much earlier and Balz knew this, but still continued his business and thus caused enormous damage.
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The company has been insolvent since the end of March 2012, according to the indictment. In addition to banks and investors, Balz also harmed a large number of smaller creditors. He also collected 125 million euros from investors with fined balance sheets.
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Originally eight people were charged in the trial. The proceedings started in summer 2019 against seven of them have been discontinued over time. The defense criticized that the company’s former CFO did not have to answer in court. Lawyer Alexander Schork said: “Windreich was not insolvent.” Balz had relied on his advisors. They checked the issue of solvency and said no.
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The former entrepreneur is charged, among other things, with bankruptcy, balance sheet manipulation, insider trading and particularly serious fraud. His two lawyers further criticized the prosecution for wrongly ignoring a deferred loan and debts that were not due when considering liquidity.
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Balz was considered a pioneer for wind turbines for generating electricity at sea. He developed and planned the projects and then sold them to investors. The verdict is due to be announced on December 2nd.
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