Fraud trial

Counterfeit gold ducats sold to the public

The two defendants did not want to know anything about fraud(Bild: Chantall Dorn)

The trial of two Bosnians took place at Feldkirch Regional Court on Monday. The two men ripped off numerous gold dealers with their crooked stories.

The 34-year-old Bosnian and his accomplice (47) know what "criminal" means. Although they are now considered blameless before the law, the younger man spent seven years in prison in Austria years ago for aggravated robbery. The second defendant had seven previous convictions. On Monday, the gentlemen had to answer to the jury at the Feldkirch Regional Court because they had tried to sell counterfeit gold ducats throughout Austria between February and May.

They tricked the respective dealers into believing that they had made an inheritance and now wanted to sell the coins. The public prosecutor's office is talking about almost 90,000 euros. However, the actual loss is much lower, as many dealers did not buy the coins in the end. This included a jewelry dealer in Lustenau who called the police. A Vorarlberg businessman who had fallen for the men said during the trial that the duo had acted very professionally. "I've been in this business for 40 years now, I would never have thought that something like this would happen to me," said the private party, who demanded compensation of 10,500 euros.

Client was ignorant
"My client was working on a construction site where a house was being demolished. When he wanted to throw a couch out of the window, the gold coins tumbled," said defense lawyer Bernhard Schwendinger, describing the 34-year-old client's responsibility. If he had intended to defraud, he could have sold the coins privately on the Internet, the lawyer continued. However, his client had been ignorant and had therefore turned to professional gold dealers.

After a brief deliberation by the panel of lay judges, the presiding judge Alexander Wehinger found the two defendants guilty as charged and sentenced the first defendant to 24 months in prison, eight of them unconditional, and to pay restitution in the amount of 26,000 euros. His accomplice got off with a conditional prison sentence of seven months and a fine of 2,800 euros. The verdict is not final.