Thursday, July 01, 2021
BGH confirms profit collection
Weapons company Sig Sauer has to sheet metal
Sig Sauer pistols are used by drug gangs and paramilitaries in Colombia. The arms manufacturer apparently closed the deal legally with the US police. The Federal Court of Justice has now also sentenced the group to repay the profit of eleven million euros.
The north German arms manufacturer Sig Sauer has to transfer its proceeds of a good eleven million euros from illegal exports to Colombia to the state. The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) in Karlsruhe largely confirmed a corresponding ruling by the Kiel Regional Court in April 2019. Between 2009 and 2011, Sig Sauer initially delivered almost 40,000 pistols manufactured in Germany to a subsidiary in the USA. This sold the pistols to the US National Police for 11.1 million euros. The German authorities had approved this for the weapons to remain in the USA.
According to the findings of the Kiel Regional Court, it was actually already clear that the pistols were to be delivered to Colombia. Arms exports there were not permitted under German law. At the time, the Federal Foreign Office classified the human rights situation in the country as serious. In April 2019, the district court imposed suspended sentences and high monetary requirements on three managers, including the managing director of the Eckernförde location, for the unauthorized delivery of pistols. This was no longer in dispute before the BGH.
Weapons for drug gangs and paramilitaries
In addition, the regional court had ordered the collection of all sales proceeds from three companies of the Sig-Sauer group of companies. These companies resisted this. However, the BGH now largely dismissed their complaints. The regional court rightly affirmed the confiscation and also correctly determined the amount.
However, the district court of Kiel is to clarify the participation of the parent company Sig Sauer GmbH & Co. KG in Eckernförde in more detail. According to the findings so far, it is unclear whether the company has deliberately outsourced the business to other companies in the group in order to conceal the sale to Colombia, and whether it still made money from the business. Ultimately, however, it is only a question of how the three companies in the Sig-Sauer Group divide up the 11.1 million euros.
According to the human rights and children’s aid organization terre des hommes in Osnabrück, Sig Sauer weapons are used in crimes by drug gangs, paramilitaries and guerrilla groups in Colombia. They are also used in the event of human rights violations by the police and the military.
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