Trial in Wels
Finale of the dubious real estate deal on Lake Traunsee
A "gang" of six defendants - a lawyer, a solicitor, a real estate agent, a notary and two real estate developers - allegedly took advantage of an elderly woman's dementia and bought a property from her for far below its value, according to the indictment. Five of the accused were sentenced on Tuesday.
The two lawyers, a real estate agent and two managing directors of a real estate company were found guilty of serious fraud at Wels Regional Court on Tuesday and sentenced to prison terms of up to 36 months, some of which will be suspended. The accused notary, on the other hand, was acquitted. The verdicts are not yet legally binding.
It was a long road to the verdicts. Back in 2019, a real estate transaction was carried out on Lake Traunsee. The former guesthouse, including a small lakeside property, of a then 83-year-old woman from Gmunden - she has since passed away - was sold to a real estate developer for 750,000. But what looked like a completely normal transaction turned into a criminal case.
Price is said to have been too low
The woman's relatives fought the deal because the price was allegedly too low and the lady was apparently already suffering from dementia at the time of signing. According to an expert, the property was worth 1.7 million euros.
Illustrious panel in the dock
A lawyer, a solicitor, a real estate agent, a notary and two real estate developers were ultimately charged with taking advantage of the woman's poor state of health and buying the property below its value.
Not a criminal case
The proceedings dragged on: the trial has been ongoing since June 12. "This is not a criminal case. No damage has been done." According to a lawyer for one of the defendants, the seller's dementia was not apparent at the time and the valuers' calculations regarding the property were simply wrong.
In the course of the long trial, there were some inconsistencies, family relationships were revealed and witnesses were heard. The closing arguments were scheduled for Tuesday - nine in total. In addition to the defendants' lawyers, the representatives of the private parties and the public prosecutor's office also had their say. The defense lawyers all demanded acquittals, at least in cases of doubt.
This article has been automatically translated,
read the original article here.
Kommentare
Willkommen in unserer Community! Eingehende Beiträge werden geprüft und anschließend veröffentlicht. Bitte achten Sie auf Einhaltung unserer Netiquette und AGB. Für ausführliche Diskussionen steht Ihnen ebenso das krone.at-Forum zur Verfügung. Hier können Sie das Community-Team via unserer Melde- und Abhilfestelle kontaktieren.
User-Beiträge geben nicht notwendigerweise die Meinung des Betreibers/der Redaktion bzw. von Krone Multimedia (KMM) wieder. In diesem Sinne distanziert sich die Redaktion/der Betreiber von den Inhalten in diesem Diskussionsforum. KMM behält sich insbesondere vor, gegen geltendes Recht verstoßende, den guten Sitten oder der Netiquette widersprechende bzw. dem Ansehen von KMM zuwiderlaufende Beiträge zu löschen, diesbezüglichen Schadenersatz gegenüber dem betreffenden User geltend zu machen, die Nutzer-Daten zu Zwecken der Rechtsverfolgung zu verwenden und strafrechtlich relevante Beiträge zur Anzeige zu bringen (siehe auch AGB). Hier können Sie das Community-Team via unserer Melde- und Abhilfestelle kontaktieren.