German Prosecutors Appeal Aquittals of Former Deutsche Bank Executives
October 18 2016 - 10:50AM
Dow Jones News
By Friedrich Geiger
Prosecutors in Munich said Tuesday they had appealed the
acquittals of three former Deutsche Bank AG executives on charges
of giving false testimony, potentially reopening a saga linked to
the 2002 collapse of the Kirch media empire.
A Munich court in April acquitted Juergen Fitschen, who was the
co-chief executive of Germany's largest bank until May, and the two
preceding CEOs, Rolf Breuer and Josef Ackermann, as well as two
other management board members. The five had been accused of giving
false testimony in a civil lawsuit in connection with the collapse
of the late entrepreneur Leo Kirch's media company.
The appeal is unlikely to have significant ramifications for
Deutsche Bank, which last year settled a separate civil lawsuit
about the bank's role in the Kirch business's downfall. The bank
agreed to pay roughly 925 million euros ($1.02 billion) to Mr.
Kirch's heirs, without admitting to any wrongdoing and denying the
allegations.
While the appeal was filed by Bavarian prosecutors in a Munich
court, Germany's chief federal prosecutor has the option of picking
up the appeal and bringing it to the country's supreme court.
Bavarian prosecutors in 2011 began investigating whether former
Deutsche Bank executives had given inaccurate testimony in court
during proceedings about possible damages for the Kirch family. Mr.
Fitschen, who had also testified in hearings, was included as a
subject of investigation in 2013.
Write to Friedrich Geiger at friedrich.geiger@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 18, 2016 10:35 ET (14:35 GMT)
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