Germany's leading banker, Deutsche Bank chief executive Dr Josef Ackermann, was acquitted yesterday of charges that he illegally approved €57 million in executive bonuses to seal Vodafone's takeover of Mannesmann four years ago.
However, trial judge Ms Brigitte Koppenhöfer said that payments to Mannesmann executives, including its former chief executive Mr Klaus Esser, breached corporate law because they were not in the interests of the company and were approved after the sale.
But she ruled: "The continued existence and profitability of Mannesmann were not endangered by the bonuses."
The acquittal of Mr Ackermann and five other defendants by a Düsseldorf court came as little surprise and ends a court case that put on trial the growing influence of Anglo-American corporate values on the German business world.
The spectacular six-month trial examined Vodafone's equally dramatic hostile takeover of Mannesmann, one of Germany's oldest industrial companies, in 2000. After a three-month battle, Mr Klaus Esser, then chief executive of Mannesmann, finally agreed to the takeover and received two payments of €15 million each.
Altogether, payments totalling €57 million were approved by the supervisory board of Mannesmann, members of which included Mr Klaus Zwickel, then head of Germany's powerful IG Metall union, and Mr Ackermann. Mr Ackermann, a 56-year-old Swiss national, received no payments but, by approving the bonuses, was accused by the state prosecutor of breach of trust for "showing an indifference towards the property of Mannesmann".
Lawyers for the defendants say that, rather than help themselves to shareholders' money, their clients greatly increased the value of Mannesmann during the takeover battle and that Mr Esser got a better price for the company from Vodafone.
On the witness stand, Mr Ackermann attacked the trial, saying Germany was "the only country where people who are successfully creating value have to go to court".
Yesterday, a visibly relieved Mr Ackermann said he was "happy" about the verdict, adding that "an acquittal is an acquittal".
Mr Ackermann, who faced dismissal as Deutsche chief executive if found guilty, spent up to two days a week in Düsseldorf since January, running Europe's third-largest financial institution from a temporary office.
The judge said yesterday that the Mannesmann trial was about breaches of commercial law and not about "moral or ethical judgments", however that is exactly how the case was perceived outside the courtroom.
Leading government politicians were quick to criticise the ruling yesterday.
Mr Wolfgang Thierse, the Social Democratic leader of the Bundestag, said: "Just because they apparently cannot be punished legally, the self-service at Mannesmann can in no way be morally justified."
