Executives accused over Vodafone battle

A German court has ordered five former officials of the Mannesmann mobile phone company to stand trial over their roles in the 2000 takeover of Mannesmann by Vodafone.

Facing trial in Dusseldorf on charges of breach of faith are former Mannesmann chief executive Klaus Esser, head of personnel Dietmar Droste, board chairman Joachim Funk and board members Juergen Ladberg and Klaus Zwickel.

Deutsche Bank chief executive Josef Ackermann, who was on the Mannesmann board, has also been charged.

The bank has called the charges unfounded and said Ackermann has the support of the board of directors.

Investigators have focused on the board’s approval of the €60m paid to Mannesmann head Esser and other executives after Esser dropped his fierce opposition to the takeover.

Esser has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, arguing that the majority of Mannesmann shareholders favoured a takeover by the time he gave up the fight.

Esser has acknowledged that the 60 million marks (€30.6m) he received as a golden parachute could be controversial, and blamed the investigation on pressure from the media.