Deutsche Bank chief executive Josef Ackermann went on trial yesterday for a second time after approving disputed multimillion-euro bonus payments to executives in a 2001 takeover battle at telecoms firm Mannesmann AG.
Ackermann, who helped steer Germany's biggest bank to record profits while cutting costs, has said that he will resign if found guilty.
The bank's board of directors has stood behind him -- as they did in his first trial, which ended in acquittal.
The charges do not relate to the activities of Ackermann at Deutsche Bank. Ackermann did not receive money himself, and has rejected the accusations.
But his style has often drawn criticism in Germany -- the bonuses paid to departing executives at Mannesmann were considered by many as excessive in a business culture that has not caught up with the big-money pay practices prevalent in US and British banking.
Deutsche Bank at one point drew heavy criticism for announcing a healthy profit together with hefty job cuts.
In 2004, Ackermann -- a former member of Mannesmann's board -- and five others were acquitted of breach of trust over allegations that they illegally engineered payments to executives at Mannesmann after its takeover by rival Vodafone Group PLC. The US$226 billion deal was the largest corporate merger ever at the time.
In all, bonuses and retirement packages of US$97 million to executives were approved. Prosecutors have argued that a special severance payment of more than US$18.9 million to former Mannesmann chief executive Klaus Esser was not in the best interest of the company.
After prosecutors appealed, the case was revived last December when Germany's Federal Court of Justice ordered a retrial.
The protracted legal proceed-ings have been a distraction as the bank strives to become more international in its reach while shoring up its position at home.
In Germany, awards of the size made to the Mannesmann managers are uncommon and top executives' compensation is generally more modest than in the US.
BACK IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD: The planned transit by the ‘Baden-Wuerttemberg’ and the ‘Frankfurt am Main’ would be the German Navy’s first passage since 2002 Two German warships are set to pass through the Taiwan Strait in the middle of this month, becoming the first German naval vessels to do so in 22 years, Der Spiegel reported on Saturday. Reuters last month reported that the warships, the frigate Baden-Wuerttemberg and the replenishment ship Frankfurt am Main, were awaiting orders from Berlin to sail the Strait, prompting a rebuke to Germany from Beijing. Der Spiegel cited unspecified sources as saying Beijing would not be formally notified of the German ships’ passage to emphasize that Berlin views the trip as normal. The German Federal Ministry of Defense declined to comment. While
‘UPHOLDING PEACE’: Taiwan’s foreign minister thanked the US Congress for using a ‘creative and effective way’ to deter Chinese military aggression toward the nation The US House of Representatives on Monday passed the Taiwan Conflict Deterrence Act, aimed at deterring Chinese aggression toward Taiwan by threatening to publish information about Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials’ “illicit” financial assets if Beijing were to attack. The act would also “restrict financial services for certain immediate family of such officials,” the text of the legislation says. The bill was introduced in January last year by US representatives French Hill and Brad Sherman. After remarks from several members, it passed unanimously. “If China chooses to attack the free people of Taiwan, [the bill] requires the Treasury secretary to publish the illicit
A senior US military official yesterday warned his Chinese counterpart against Beijing’s “dangerous” moves in the South China Sea during the first talks of their kind between the commanders. Washington and Beijing remain at odds on issues from trade to the status of Taiwan and China’s increasingly assertive approach in disputed maritime regions, but they have sought to re-establish regular military-to-military talks in a bid to prevent flashpoint disputes from spinning out of control. Samuel Paparo, commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, and Wu Yanan (吳亞男), head of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Southern Theater Command, talked via videoconference. Paparo “underscored the importance
The US House of Representatives yesterday unanimously passed the Taiwan Conflict Deterrence Act, which aims to disincentivize Chinese aggression toward Taiwan by cutting Chinese leaders and their family members off from the US financial system if Beijing acts against Taiwan. The bipartisan bill, which would also publish the assets of top Chinese leaders, was cosponsored by Republican US Representative French Hill, Democratic US Representative Brad Sherman and seven others. If the US president determines that a threat against Taiwan exists, the bill would require the US Department of the Treasury to report to Congress on funds held by certain members of the
RSS