A plea agreement has been reached in the trial of the former managing director of a German waste management company accused of organising illegal waste exports to the Czech Republic. Under the agreement reached on the first day of the hearing, the former executive is expected to receive a prison sentence of no more than three-and-a-half years. He has been held in pre-trial detention for the past ten months.
The case drew international attention after the waste from Germany was discovered, dumped at sites in the Czech Republic and Poland. Subsequent investigations by the authorities concluded that the material should have been subject to notification requirements. The agreement is conditional on the defendant confessing and paying €100,000 to the state of Bavaria. The authorities incurred costs of around €600,000 to repatriate and properly manage the approximately 600 tonnes of waste....
