GERMANY - Bribes for refugee status

Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has said that he won’t spare reputations in his efforts to get to the bottom of a scandal that has hit public trust in the asylum process. What is the so-called 'Bamf affair'?

What is the BAMF affair?
The scandal centers around the Federal Office for Immigration and Refugees, which goes by the acronym BAMF. The BAMF office in Bremen is accused of wrongfully granting asylum to over a thousand refugees between 2013 and 2016 who had their applications dismissed in other federal states.

Prosecutors in Bremen are currently investigating the former head of the Bremen office, Ulrike B., and various employees on suspicion that they took bribes in exchange for granting favourable decisions.

In April, prosecutors searched six private properties and the offices of two law firms as part of their investigation. While it is not yet certain whether BAMF employees in Bremen received money in return for granting asylum, a lawyer's office in Hildesheim is said to have charged €1,000 to ensure that the Bremen office handed down a positive decision.
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