Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
BERLIN (AP) — Germany is suing a Swiss bank to reclaim millions of euros that once belonged to communist East Germany.
BvS, an agency tasked with recovering and managing the communist-era funds, says it asked Zurich's regional court last week to force Bank Julius Baer to return 135 million euros ($179.1 million).
Dieter Freund, an official at the agency, said Friday the lawsuit alleges that from 1989 to 1992 a businesswoman acting for an East German trading company was allowed to make unauthorized withdrawals from Bank Cantrade, which Julius Baer later bought.
The bank contests the claim.
Freund says the BvS agency has already recovered about 252 million euros from Swiss private bank AKB in a related case.
East and West Germany were reunited in 1990.
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
