Fraud charge for Deutsche Bank CEO
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Ackermann: The case is the first of its kind in Germany.
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DUSSELDORF, Germany (Reuters) -- German prosecutors said they had charged the head of Germany's biggest bank and the boss of one of the country's biggest unions with breach of trust over huge payments made to managers of telecoms giant Mannesmann.
Deutsche Bank Chief Executive Josef Ackermann and IG Metall union head Klaus Zwickel were members of a committee that approved extra payments to Mannesmann's former boss Klaus Esser and other executives when the firm was bought by British telecoms giant Vodafone.
Legal analysts say that if the case is heard in court it will be the first of its kind in Germany and could have a serious impact on the ability of German firms to set compensation for senior executives.
Charges against Ackermann, Zwickel, Esser and two other Mannesmann board members were already filed last week but the prosecutor officially confirmed the names and the charges only on Tuesday, after they had been served.
They follow a two-year probe into whether members of Mannesmann's supervisory board breached shareholders trust when they approved payoffs to the tune of more than 100 million euros ($108 million) to smooth the takeover by Vodafone.
The Dusseldorf court's decision on whether to admit the case could take several more months, a spokesman for the court said last week.
Prosecutors began investigating events surrounding Vodafone Group $200 billion takeover of Mannesmann -- the biggest in corporate history -- in March 2001 after a Stuttgart law firm, Binz & Partners, complained about the payments.
The former Mannesmann chief, who resisted the takeover of Germany's second-largest mobile phone operator for months before recommending the bid in February 2000, received some 30 million euros. The bid battle sent Mannesmann's stock to record highs.
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