Senior Deutsche executives to escape espionage probe
SENIOR executives at Deutsche Bank are to escape investigation by German authorities into a spying scandal that saw the bank hire detectives to dig up information on a troublesome shareholder.
The bank is facing a probe into privacy violations by Frankfurt prosecutors and financial regulator BaFin, and has already fired two executives over their alleged roles in the affair.
But senior figures such as chairman of the supervisory board Clemen Boersig will not face prosecution, after investigators found no evidence of wrongdoing by anyone on the board.
The investigation centres around shareholder Michael Bohndorf, whose Ibiza holiday home was rented by two detectives commissioned to spy on him by people at the bank.
The shareholder attracted the attention of bank officials after he asked questions at a 2006 annual meeting about a dispute between the bank and German media magnate Leo Kirch.
The espionage came to light following a report by law firm Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton, which was hired by Deutsche to look into the allegations.