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Sustainable
eNews |
April 2003 |
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IWMC
World Conservation Trust |
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Animal welfare
fraudster Caged
Munich (Reuters)
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The former head of one of Germany's biggest animal
welfare groups was sentenced to 12 years in jail in Munich on Tuesday after
being found guilty of embezzling US$28 million from animal lovers.
Wolfgang Ullrich, 58, was convicted of 137 separate counts of fraud over
a five-year period from 1994 to 1999 when he was head of the Deutsches
Tierhilfswerk, Germany's largest independent animal welfare group with
230,000 members.
Thai police first arrested Ullrich, who ran a restaurant business in the
resort of Pattaya, in 1998 after investigating him for tax evasion.
Subsequent investigations into his finances uncovered a front company
Ullrich had set up in Switzerland, into which he channeled donations from
animal lovers.
Deutsches Tierhilfswerk said it would now try to sue for compensation. 
(Source: Japan Times, April
4, 2003)
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