The defendant did not appear in court in person. The 39-year-old stands accused of owning the counterfeit money and trying to put it into circulation.
A police officer told the court this Monday morning how the defendant was stopped by police around 13 months ago as he was suspected of having been involved in a break-in in Hesperange. He was then found to carry the large sum of counterfeit money.
He carried fake €50, €100, and €200 notes amounting to a total sum of approximately €22,000. The suspect told police that he had found the money in a garbage can near Luxembourg Central station. The police officer explained that he recognised that the bills were fake and consequently contacted the public prosecutor's office. The latter ordered the arrest of the suspect. At the police station, the defendant later told officers that he had given one of the fake notes to a friend to scam a drug dealer.
The representative of the public prosecutor's office used this statement to prove that the defendant had been well aware of the fact that the money he allegedly found was fake. He stressed that, from the prosecution's viewpoint, it did not matter how the suspect acquired the counterfeit money and demanded a 30-month prison sentence as well as a €5,000 fine for the accused. He added that the court should not settle for a suspended sentence because the defendant did not even appear in court in person.
The verdict will be passed on 16 January.
