Verdict announced in Aurubis theft

Judgments have been announced in the district court for Hamburg, Germany, regarding the theft of precious metals from Aurubis AG, which is headquartered in the city.

In September of last year, the company publicized it had been victimized by large-volume purchases of metallic inputs with misrepresented metals content.

Judges sentenced the main defendant to five years and 10 months, while the former indicted Aurubis employee received three years and six months in prison, according to a news release issued by the company. All other co-defendants were given penalties of up to four years. Judges also set damages amounting to approximately 10 million euros for the time of the offense in question, which occurred in 2020.

“We welcome this clear and consistent action from the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the judiciary against this case of organized crime,” Aurubis CEO Roland Harings says. “The partly long sentences reflect the severity of the crimes and are sure to act as a deterrent to potential copycats in the future. The police and Public Prosecutor’s Office had our complete support. It was also important to us to identify the underlying structures and shot-callers.”

The company says it has taken these incidents as an opportunity for another thorough review and improvement of its prevention and security standards, implementing measures designed to significantly boost security. The company also is introducing additional long-term security measures that will reduce the threat of theft and fraud in the future, including building a new security area at its Hamburg plant that will integrate the entire precious metals processing chain.

Aurubis says it reported having been the target of criminal activities in June 2023. The Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Hamburg Police Department investigated the involvement of former and active Aurubis employees, along with employees of contractors working on the Aurubis factory premises.

The metals producer carried out an inventory process at the end of Aug. 31, 2023, in the aftermath of the theft and fraud cases. Aurubis said the losses involve the misrepresentation of precious metals in purchased materials.

Aurubis Head of Corporate Communications Christoph Tesch told Recycling Today in mid-September of last year that the metals involved could include gold, palladium, platinum, rhodium and silver.

“According to the results, the value of the precious metal shortage, which will negatively impact operating earnings before taxes [EBT] for fiscal year 2022-2023, amounts to 185 million euros [$198 million]," Aurubis said at that time.

The company achieved operating earnings before taxes (EBT) of 349 million euros ($377.9 million) for the 2022/23 fiscal year as of Sept. 30, 2023, compared with 532 million euros ($576.1 million) the prior year. After its record result in fiscal year 2021/22, the deviations mainly were attributed to the financial impact of the criminal activities directed against Aurubis.

In announcing the company’s earnings for the recently completed fiscal year in December 2023, Harings said, “We can be pleased with the result of the past fiscal year, considering that it is the third-best result in company history—especially in light of the damages caused by the criminal activities directed against Aurubis. Good operating performance coupled with high market demand for our products are clear proof of Aurubis’ potential. We are confident that we will continue to profit from powerful global developments like electrification, the circular economy, and the transition to more sustainability in the current fiscal year.”

Aurubis also has announced executive changes in part related to the fraud case.

The company’s supervisory board has agreed with CEO Roland Harings, Chief Financial Officer Rainer Verhoeven and Chief Operating Officer of Custom Smelting & Products Heiko Arnold to prematurely terminate their current executive board contracts.

“The three executive board members are thus taking accountability for the unique challenges Aurubis faced in the past fiscal year, in particular in light of the serious cases of fraud and theft at the Hamburg plant and incidents in occupational safety," the company says.

In May of last year, an accident at the Aurubis smelter site in Hamburg caused three employee fatalities. The incident was tied to a nitrogen leak that occurred while maintenance tasks were being performed.

The three departing executives will leave in phases, with Harings being the last to leave Sept. 30.