German police have searched the immigration office in Munich on suspicions that employees there took bribes in exchange for positive asylum decisions.
The raid on on March 11 came after Munich prosecutors had launched an investigation into five current and one former employee of the city’s administration.
They are suspected of making illegal decisions “in numerous cases” related to immigration law, the public prosecutor’s office confirmed to the media.
The organisation itself contacted the police after irregularities in residence permits were found during an internal audit at the office.
In the first half of 2024, an employee had allegedly observed a man approaching people at the immigration facility and offering assistance in exchange for payment.
After the man returned to the premises, despite being banned, the authority initiated the internal audit.
It revealed that this individual’s clients consistently had appointments with the same set of clerks. Since then, evidence has been systematically collected regarding this matter.
Five suspects are currently in custody, while Süddeutsche Zeitung reported a total of seven under investigation.
Investigators also searched private apartments related to the suspects.
Authorities said they suspected bribery and forgery of documents took place between May 2022 and January 2024. One of the suspects allegedly facilitated contacts with foreigners, forged documents and arranged payments to city administration employees.
Since 2022, the Munich immigration office, which employs around 3,800 people, has been headed by Hanna Sammüller-Gradl, of The Greens party.
In February 2024, she told the media she wanted to make the authority more friendly to migrants and described the debate about deportations as a “sham”.
Sammüller-Gradl complained that “generalising slogans against certain groups of people are no longer only uttered by the parties on the far-right, but also by those who actually locate themselves in the middle of society”.
On March 12, the parliamentary group leader of The Greens, Rosa List, Mona Fuchs, said: “There must be no taking advantage, from any municipal employee. This zero-tolerance policy with regard to corruption and taking advantage of it naturally also applies to the district administration department.”
She stressed that it was the organisation itself that pushed ahead with the internal investigations over its suspicions and informed the investigating authorities.
Manuel Pretzl, chairman of the parliamentary group of the Christian Social Union and Free Voters in the Munich City Council, has demanded “complete” transparency on the matter.
Police raid Munich immigration office over suspected asylum bribery