German states eye lost millions hidden by communists

Berlin - German states which were formerly under communist rule are hoping to regain hundreds of millions of euros siphoned away by former communist party bosses, legislators said Sunday.

The states' hopes for a windfall have risen after a Swiss court directed Italian-owned UniCredit Bank Austria to pay 230 million euros (306 million dollars) to the five states and the city-state of Berlin.

UniCredit Bank Austria, which reportedly said it would appeal, warned stockmarkets that its exposure might be 240 million euros.

German investigators found 128 million euros mysteriously vanished in 1992 from the accounts of Novum, a trading arm of the old communist party.

They claim Novum's chief executive switched the funds in small transactions to other accounts with help from Bank Austria's predecessor.

News reports said the Thursday ruling requires the bank to compensate the states, which have been the rightful owner of former communist party property since East Germany ceased to exist in 1990. The bank must pay for the loss of the funds plus interest.

Michael Kretschmer, a senior Christian Democrat in Germany, said in remarks to appear Monday in the newspaper Leipziger Volkszeitung that the sum was just the "tip of the iceberg," with banks liable for other nest-eggs siphoned away by former communists.

An ex-legislator who investigated the pillage of the funds, Vera Lengsfeld, told the same newspaper, "This is only one tenth of the siphoned-off assets."

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/316185,german-states-eye-lost-millions-hidden-by-communists.html.