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Prosecutor set to decide on indictments in Deutsche Bank probe

by Reuters
Thursday, 7 August 2014 14:23 GMT

MUNICH/FRANKFURT, Aug 7 (Reuters) - German prosecutors have concluded an investigation into suspected fraud by senior managers at Deutsche Bank AG and will determine shortly if the probe should result in an indictment, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor said.

Prosecutors are investigating whether co-Chief Executive Juergen Fitschen, his predecessors Josef Ackermann and Rolf Breuer, and others gave misleading evidence in the civil suit brought by heirs of late media magnate Leo Kirch, which ended in February after 12 years of legal wrangling.

Kirch, who died in 2011, blamed the country's largest lender for his group's demise, setting off one of Germany's most acrimonious corporate disputes, which was settled in a deal costing Deutsche about 925 million euros ($1.3 billion).

Munich-based prosecutors are investigating Fitschen, management board member Stephan Leithner and other current and former senior managers in the case.

Investigators have searched Deutsche Bank offices on several occasions, the home of one suspect, as well as the offices of lawyers representing senior Deutsche Bank managers.

A spokesman for the bank repeated a previous statement that the lender viewed the investigation as groundless but declined further comment.

A spokesman for Germany's banking watchdog Bafin said: "The regulator abides by the presumption of innocence." (Reporting by Joern Poelz in Munich and Kathrin Jones in Frankfurt; Writing by Thomas Atkins; Editing by David Holmes)

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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