KWL scandal
KWL scandal describes the processes surrounding the sale of municipal goods by the Leipzig municipal waterworks (KWL) with enormous consequential costs for the city of Leipzig.
Course of events
According to a report in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , the head of the Leipziger Wasserwerke at the time, Klaus Heininger, and his colleague Andreas Schirmer had concluded high-risk credit default swaps (CDS) with the major Swiss bank UBS on behalf of the waterworks without the knowledge of the supervisory bodies . Heininger was bribed with 3.7 million euros, and the bank's agents also received commissions in the millions. As a result, bank claims totaling 285.5 million euros came to the waterworks and the city.
The process was initiated in March 2003 under the leadership of Finance Mayor Peter Kaminski (CDU). This happened during the term of office of the then Lord Mayor of Leipzig Wolfgang Tiefensee (SPD). This involved a sale-lease-back transaction (selling and then leasing back), which was referred to as cross-border leasing (CBL) via the sale to a foreign investor . The business became increasingly complex in the following years with the further participation of the Swiss bank UBS and Merrill Lynch Capital Services Inc. (MLCS). This led to an indictment against Klaus Heininger due to the top management, which is characterized by mismanagement and corruption.
In 2011 the advisors, Jürgen Blatz and Berthold Senf, were found guilty of bribery by a German court.
UBS's lawsuit against the City of Leipzig due to payment obligations relating to the KWL contract was decided on November 4, 2014 by the High Court of Justice in London in favor of the City of Leipzig. UBS initiated an appeal, which was dismissed on October 16, 2017 by the UK Court of Appeal .
On 13 November 2017, was Leipziger utilities and transport company informed that the UBS at the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (Supreme Court of the United Kingdom) has filed an application for approval of a further appeal. The Supreme Court must now decide whether a further judgment would be of "fundamental public concern".
Web links
- KWL is putting its managing directors Heininger and Schirmer on leave
- Waterworks affair overview until the end of 2011
- Chronicle of the KWL financial scandal - what happened so far, overview up to May 2017
Individual evidence
- ^ Leipzig waterworks scandal . Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, January 18, 2011, accessed on February 28, 2015.
- ↑ Three investment banks are demanding up to 400 million euros in damages from the city for the "gamble" at the Leipzig municipal waterworks (KWL). ( Memento of the original from February 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Medium-sized companies for Mannheim, April 29, 2014.
- ↑ Leipzig Wiki: CBL ( Memento from March 27, 2009 in the Internet Archive ).
- ↑ Leipzig City Archives: City Chronicle 2005 (PDF; 272 kB), December 28, 2005 (p. 47).
- ↑ CDO / CDS transactions KWL . In: Annual financial statements 2014 of the Leipziger Versorgungs- und Verkehrsgesellschaft mbH , p. 19 f.
- ↑ Kit Chellel: UBS loses KWL lawsuit, was not honest, fair according to Richter. Die Welt, November 4, 2014.
- ↑ Leipzig escapes payment of millions. (No longer available online.) In: Sächsische Zeitung Online. October 16, 2017, archived from the original on October 17, 2017 ; accessed on October 16, 2017 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ UBS applies for another appeal in the million dollar dispute with KWL. LVZ-Online, November 13, 2017.
