More trouble for Deutsche Bank

Germany's biggest lender said Tuesday prosecutors had again raided parts of its premises in Frankfurt in search of evidence as to whether or not managers of the bank and lawyers working for them had provided false information in a long-running compensation battle over the fall of the Leo Kirch media empire.

Prosecutors said the raids were aimed at securing documents relating to court action over the collapse of the media group.

Following 12 years of litigation, Deutsche Bank in February of this year agreed to pay the heirs of Leo Kirch's media empire about 925 million euros ($1.28 billion) in compensation after comments made by the lender's former CEO, Rolf Breuer, may have helped to pave the way for the implosion of the media group.

Untimely incident

However, prosecutors continued to look into whether Breuer himself as well as other managers, including Deutsche Bank's current Co-CEO, Jürgen Fitschen, may have cooperated in providing false information in court in a bid to head off a compensation deal.

Two law firms working for Deutsche Bank had already been raided over the past few days, but no names were revealed, with former CEO Josef Ackermann now also in the focus of investigations.

The intensification of the search came as the bank continued its large-scale restructuring drive that also involved rising to a new level of business ethics following a number of scandals such as its alleged participation in Libor interest rate rigging.

hg/hc (AFP, dpa)