German prosecutors are seeking charges against Deutsche Bank co-CEO Juergen Fitschen and several former executives at the bank in connection with the long-running Kirch bankruptcy case. According to reports, the decision to pursue charges, while widely expected, is a serious blow to Fitschen and Germany’s largest bank, which faces an array of legal problems, including investigations into possible manipulation of benchmark interest rates and foreign exchange markets. Prosecutors have been investigating whether Fitschen, his predecessors Josef Ackermann and Rolf Breuer, and others gave misleading evidence in a civil suit, brought by heirs of the late media magnate Leo Kirch, which ended in February after 12 years of legal wrangling. A Munich court must now decide whether to accept the case and press charges, a decision expected to take several months.
