ACTIONS CORNER
The criminal trial of Rolf Breuer postponed in mid August is to start on 24 November. The former Deutsche Bank CEO and Supervisory Board chair has to answer before Munich District Court I for attempted fraud in a civil trial dealing with Leo Kirch’s bankruptcy, the Court announced on 5 October. Breuer, according to the prosecutors, deliberately made false statements in court in 2003. The first edition of the proceedings had been suspended due to scheduling problems during the holiday season.
The chamber of Munich Higher Regional Court found on 25 October, in the proceedings around multi-billion dollar damages for the collapse of the Kirch empire, that there is no evidence of collusion by Breuer with Bloomberg TV. Even though there is still no verdict in sight, the Deutsche Bank is unwilling to settle out of court. The former Deutsche Bank chief had questioned the creditworthiness of the Kirch Group in the much-noted interview. He later described his statements as an accident.
A lawsuit has been filed in the U.S. against Deutsche Bank in connection with the subprime crisis. The complaint relates to the purchase of CDOs valued at $440 million in 2005 and 2007. The Bank considers the action to be unfounded and will fight back with all legal means.
Bonn public prosecutors are investigating Deutsche Telekom again on suspicion of commercial fraud. According to Handelsblatt, the background is a denunciation by Telegate founders Klaus Harisch and Peter Wünsch. The DAX-listed company believes the criminal charges levied are “entirely without merit” and will challenge the prosecutors’ position. The proceedings once again relate to the charge that the Bonn-based company charged inter alia Telegate abusively excessive amounts for data on all names and numbers. In 2011, according to Handelsblatt, Telekom lost 22 cases, amounting to more than €100 million plus lawyers’ fees.
According to the Financial Supervisory Authority BaFin, the suspicion of insider trading at GAGFAH has been confirmed. The authority’s formal investigations were completed in late August and the 50-page report forwarded to Düsseldorf prosecutors, it was announced on 6 October. They subsequently opened proceedings. According to the prosecutors a total of five persons are accused. William Brennan had sold shares in the real-estate group in early February for €4.7 million.
Ingolstadt District Court has confirmed that the setting up of an advisory board at Media-Saturn-Holding by METRO was legal. The majority owner must however accept Erich Kellerhals’s blocking minority on most major decisions. The majority owner had wanted to overturn this and argued that the board could decide by simple majority. So far, decisions must be taken at the shareholders’ meeting at Media-Saturn, by an 80 percent majority. The retail group will now examine the judge’s decision.
On 19 October the U.S. subsidiary of SolarWorld, together with the Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing consisting of six other U.S. solar companies, filed a petition with the U.S. Department of Commerce and the International Trade Commission, the ITC. In the statement the association, founded by the German solar producer, claims that Chinese companies have received numerous illegal subsidies from the Chinese government. Solar World is now considering proceeding against dumping prices from China in the European Union too.
A 1.1 billion-dollar claim for damages by 41 investors (mainly fund companies) against Porsche and Volkswagen has officially arrived at Braunschweig District Court. The CLLB law firm had been polishing its case against the two carmakers for two and a half years. It is apparently also one of the triggers for Volkswagen’s statement on 8 September that the merger with Porsche will no longer take place this year. The Munich lawyers assume that the damage claim will grow further. With the takeover battle, price turbulence is said to have cost investors millions.