Former treasurer accused of embezzling €96K from Christen Democrats youth wing

The CDJA party treasurer was given notice of his dismissal over the summer after it was discovered that he had embezzled 96,000 euros from the association's treasury. This was reported by the CDA youth organization, which claimed to have noticed several "suspicious transactions" on July 22. The CDJA has reported the matter to the authorities, the organization stated on its website on Wednesday.

The fired treasurer said that he is the victim of so-called boiler room fraud, in which victims are tempted to invest large sums of money into non-existent investments. The CDJA that "it goes without saying that that is not a justification" to steal from the association. An arrangement to have the money paid back is still being worked on.

CDJA considers it peculiar that the treasurer was able to obtain such a large sum of money. Usually, there are just a few thousands of euros in the bank account. In addition, a second board member has to be present when a payment is made. However, the closure of an election fund that was no longer being used left "a large amount of money temporarily available."

The CDJA board is "shocked" but said this will have no consequences for their plans for this year because the association has sufficient money in reserve. "All planned activities will continue as planned."