Berlin moves to flip the burden of proof in asset seizures, sharpening the push against organized crime
berlin is moving to make it easier to seize money and property tied to illegal business, with lawmakers debating a Bundesrat initiative in the Abgeordnetenhaus on Thursday. The proposal would reverse the burden of proof in suspected financial crimes, requiring a suspect to explain where their assets came from. The push is framed as a faster way to hit organized criminal networks where it hurts most: their finances.
Berlin’s plan: reverse the burden of proof to reach illegal assets faster
The state of Berlin wants to simplify the confiscation of proceeds from illegal dealings. In Thursday’s debate at the Abgeordnetenhaus, the focus was a Bundesrat initiative aimed at anchoring a so-called reversal of the burden of proof in federal law.
Under the approach described in the debate, in cases of suspected financial crime the person under suspicion would have to demonstrate the lawful origin of their wealth. If they cannot, assets could be confiscated. The objective is to overcome a key hurdle officials described: money flows that are deliberately concealed, making proof difficult for the state under current rules.
Support in the chamber was broad. The factions in the Abgeordnetenhaus largely backed the project, signaling momentum behind Berlin’s effort to take the initiative to the federal level.
Officials cite organized crime pressure, rising weapon threats, and growing confiscations
Berlin Justice Senator Felor Badenberg, a CDU politician, told the Abgeordnetenhaus that the city is a “hub of internationally operating criminal networks and their local offshoots. ” She said the goal must be to weaken these networks sustainably and close lawless spaces consistently.
Badenberg pointed to areas where organized crime is active, naming drug trafficking, the illegal operation of gambling machines, and the unauthorized sale of e-cigarettes. She warned that the scene’s increasing armament is particularly concerning.
Asset recovery is a central pillar of the strategy. Badenberg said Berlin recorded confiscations in the criminal-law area of 4. 9 million euros in 2023, 8. 8 million euros in 2024, and nearly 22 million euros in 2025. “We are not only holding perpetrators criminally responsible, we are depriving them of the financial basis, ” she said in the Abgeordnetenhaus.
She also said the Bundesrat’s legal affairs committee has agreed to the Berlin initiative. If the legal changes come, suspects would in certain cases have to prove that assets such as expensive cars or a luxury villa were financed from legal income. If that proof fails, the assets would be seized. Under the current framework, Badenberg said, that evidentiary burden lies with the state, a task made harder when criminals mask the origin of funds.
In the same debate, all factions described organized crime as a serious problem. The Greens and the Left warned that tools for asset confiscation must be legally secure and compatible with fundamental rights.
The session also saw a sharp exchange after AfD lawmaker Marc Vallendar claimed conditions in Berlin related to the use of firearms or knives were worse than Chicago in the 1930s. SPD politician Dennis Buchner called that claim “absurd. ”
Quick context
Police statistics cited in the debate show that in 2025 Berlin registered 1, 119 cases in which firearms were threatened or used, a 68% increase compared with 2024, with just over half involving threats. In the category of “knife attack, ” police counted 3, 599 cases, up 5. 5%, with about half involving threats.
What’s next
Berlin’s next step is to keep pushing its Bundesrat initiative as the effort moves through federal channels after the legal affairs committee’s approval cited by Badenberg. For now, the political signal from Thursday’s debate is clear: berlin lawmakers want faster, more effective asset confiscation while arguments continue over how to ensure any new tools remain legally secure and compatible with fundamental rights.
