(Adds comment from Munich prosecutor's office)
By Ulrike Dauer
Munich state prosecutors have named the co-chief executive of
Deutsche Bank, Juergen Fitschen, as a new suspect in their
investigation of a case related to the collapse of the Kirch media
empire more than a decade ago.
The prosecutor's office said Tuesday they added Mr. Fitschen to
the investigation on suspicions he gave inaccurate testimony in the
Kirch civil suit.
Several former Deutsche Bank board members are already under
investigation by the prosecutors in the matter.
"We've come to the decision based on the evaluation of the
decision of the higher regional court in the Kirch civil suit and
based on the result of the searches of Deutsche Bank's premises,"
said Thomas Steinkraus-Koch, a spokesman for the prosecutor's
office.
The Kirch Media group has said Deutsche Bank bears some of the
blame for its insolvency in 2002 and is demanding billions of euros
in compensation.
Deutsche Bank AG (DB) Monday said the prosecutor's office has
notified Mr. Fitschen that he is now included in the probe, which
started in late 2011.
"The bank is absolutely convinced that this suspicion will prove
to be unfounded," Deutsche Bank said in an emailed statement Monday
in response to a report in Spiegel Online magazine.
The bank said state prosecutors allege that several former
Deutsche Bank board members agreed in advance on what to say in
court and deliberately provided inaccurate information in court to
block the Kirch group's legal demands. The former board members
have rejected the allegations.
A Munich court ruled in December that Deutsche Bank bears some
liability for the insolvency of the Kirch media conglomerate. It
held off a ruling on compensation, saying it first wanted to hear
from expert witnesses.
Previously the court's judge said Deutsche Bank may have cost
Kirch up to 1.5 billion euros by publicly suggesting that Kirch
wasn't credit worthy.
The Munich court has said the verdict can't be appealed. In
response, Deutsche Bank has filed a complaint with the highest
German appeal court, the Federal Court of Justice, in an attempt to
get that decision overruled.
Write to Ulrike Dauer at ulrike.dauer@wsj.com; Twitter:
@UlrikeDauer_
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