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01. 09. 10. - 15:00

Ex-HGAA boss resigns as Flick foundation head

Former Hypo Group Alpe Adria (HGAA) CEO Wolfgang Kulterer has resigned as head of one of Europe’s most valuable foundations.

Jörg-Andreas Lohr, board member of the private Flick foundation, announced today (Weds) Kulterer had decided to step down as head of the foundation as of 31 August.

The foundation manages the fortune of late businessman Friedrich Karl Flick. The German-Austrian tycoon passed away at the age of 79 in 2006.

He inherited the family business – steel and paper-manufacturing firms as well as various holdings in companies – in 1972. Despite the fact it had also relied on forced labour by concentration camp inmates during World War Two, the Flick family refused to pay compensation to wartime victims.

Flick’s coffin was kidnapped by a Hungarian gang from the family tomb in Velden, Carinthia, in 2008 and tracked down following an international police operation at a church in Budapest last November.

Kulterer was put in custody in Klagenfurt on 13 August amid fears he might flee or try to cover up alleged crimes. Juridical officials decided to extend his temporary arrest for an undisclosed period earlier this week.

The England-based banker is accused of being mainly responsible for HGAA’s careless lending policy in Austria, Croatia and other countries it was active in – leading to the institute’s near collapse. The former Carinthian provincial bank was nationalised by the Austrian government in December in what some business experts called a justified last minute operation.

Most analysts backed the decision, citing concerns the Austrian financial market and the country’s economy would have been badly hit had the government allowed HGAA to go bankrupt.

Kulterer became head of the private Flick foundation – which holds an alleged 6.8 billion Euros – in November 2006.

Meanwhile, his lawyer Ferdinand Lanker said the decision to keep Kulterer behind bars was a "scandal". Lanker claimed Kulterer would have no chance to cover up the wrongdoings he was accused of since he had no access to any data documenting past HGAA business activities.

"The reasons to put my client in custody are incomprehensible to me. I don’t understand the ‘motivation’ behind this  – expect a political one," the advocate said.

Some Austrian business media have speculated officials picked Kulterer as a scapegoat for scams others – including late right-wing leader Jörg Haider – were responsible for as well.

Lanker accused juridical decision-makers of trying to "distract" from other "punishable incidents" that occurred in connection with HGAA.

He also explained Klagenfurt judge Josef Testin allowed Kulterer to be provided with a Dictaphone earlier this week, adding he will keep up the fight against the decision to extend the custody.

The Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ) MP Stefan Petzner has branded the decision to put Kulterer in preventive detention a "political manoeuvre".

Dozens of financial market-specialised investigators, police and prosecutors based in Klagenfurt, Vienna and Munich, Germany, are currently trying to find out why BayernLB (Bayerische Landesbank) decided to take over HGAA for 1.62 billion Euros in 2007. Investigations have suggested that the takeover price was significantly too high considering HGAA’s dire condition. Now officials are looking at whether the then BayernLB decision-makers knew about that – and who fooled them had they not been aware.

Reports have it that dozens of bankers and politicians may face fraud and embezzlement charges following the bank’s pricey nationalisation.

New HGAA CEO Gottwald Kranebitter recently announced the institute suffered net losses of 449 million Euros in the first six months of this year. He caused a stir by revealing plans to demand compensation "from those who caused damage to the bank" soon.

Austrian Times

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