The trial of Deutsche Bank chairman Josef Ackermann and five other top German businessmen opened amid a flurry of media attention in Dusseldorf this morning.
Ackermann and five others are charged with breach of trust during the record-breaking takeover of German group Mannesmann by British mobile phone giant Vodafone in 2000.
Co-defendants are former Mannesmann chief Klaus Esser, the former boss of the powerful IG Metall trade union Klaus Zwickel, former Mannesmann supervisory board members Joachim Funk and Jurgen Ladberg, and Mannesmann's one-time personnel director Dietmar
Droste.
The managers approved a staggering €57m in golden handshakes to Mannesmann board members during the biggest corporate takeover in post-war Germany.
Esser alone pocketed €16.3m and supervisory board
chief Funk received €3m. Prosecutors argue the size of the payouts clearly went against the company's and shareholders' interests and were therefore illegal
under German share law.
Ackermann, Zwickel, Funk and Ladberg, all former members of Mannesmann's supervisory board at the time, are charged with breach of trust for approving the payouts. Esser and Droste are charged with complicity.
If found guilty, the defendants could face heavy fines or perhaps even prison terms of up to 10 years.
For many critics, the so-called Mannesmann affair encapsulated the greed of corporate bosses during the high-tech boom at the end of the decade.
The first day of the trial, which could last as long as six
months, comprises a reading of the charges. The defendants' star lawyers were also expected to file motions of their own. Around 60 witness are expected to be called, including the former Vodafone chief Chris Gent.
