Gustl Mollath
Gustl Mollath (born 7 November 1956) is a German whistleblower from Nuremberg who reported about 'black money' (i.e. untaxed, laundered etc. money) transfers from Germany to Switzerland. He was the husband of a HypoVereinsbank employee who was deeply involved in the cases. He sent reports to the bank first, later he also filed charges at the Bavarian prosecution department. The Bavarian prosecution department ignored his reports[1] but instead prosecuted a case of personal charges filed by his former wife. As a result, he has been declared not guilty by reason of insanity, and as a danger to society committed to a hospital for the criminally insane, where he remains to this date (Dec 2012). The judgement/sentence was signed in 2006. Mollath's filed charges about the black money transfers landed, after being laid ad acta by the Bavarian prosecution department, on the desk of the tax authority, in 2004. The tax authority also quickly closed this case without further detailed investigation. It was later revealed that the reason for this quick closure was quite probably a certain call made by judge Brixner - he called the tax authority and advised them not to take the charges seriously, describing Mollath as a confused person[2]. The article by the Nürnberger Nachrichten was then declared by the Bavarian Justice Minister Beate Merk as the actual reason why she finally ordered a total review of the case on November 30th, 2012[3].
Report Mainz/ZDF reported about this case in a widely noticed tv report. An unabriged version of the interview contained therein with the current Bavarian minister of justice Mrs. Beate Merk, who seemed to be stonewalling the very specific questions put to her, is also available.[4]
The case is widely reported in the German newspapers, including leading media SZ (Süddeutsche Zeitung), SPIEGEL, WELT, taz (die tageszeitung).
The HypoVereinsbank made an audit report about the cases mentioned by him in letters addressed to the bank. The audit, signed in 2003, says that "all verifiable statements have been found to be accurate" [5]. This audit was ordered by the Bavarian prosecution department in 2011, and received at the end of 2011. To this day, Beate Merk claims in interviews like the one made with Report Mainz, that the black money transfer charges and the private charges filed by his former wife are two unrelated cases and that he is in the forensic psychiatry for good reason and that "she has no doubt the case had been carried out ´by the book and quite correctly´".[6]
The audit report also contains a sentence mentioning that "it can not be excluded" that Gustl Mollath will approach the media with information [7]
There exists an affidavit, signed by a person whom Mollath's former wife told that she will "destroy" Gustl Mollath if he files charges against the Bank or her [8]
The chronology page on the supporters web page (see Web Links below) also mentions training sessions for bank employees that he attended. These classes taught them how to urge bank clients into transferring untaxed assets to Switzerland. Following the audit report, some employees of the HypoVereinsbank were dismissed, including Mr. Mollath's former wife. As of November 2012, Gustl is still committed to the care of a hospital for the criminally insane in Bayreuth.
On November 27, the Nuremberg prosecutions department announced it would be reviewing Mollath's committal. The review will also examine the appropriateness of the duration that he has been hospitalized for. That same day, the governor of Bavaria, Horst Seehofer (CSU), added a statement to the discussion. From his point of view, the justice system "would be well advised to reevaluate the case from the beginning". On November 28, Frank Streibl from the party Freie Wähler ("unassociated electors"), who is raising attention at this case in the Bavarian Parliament (bayrischer Landtag) for a longer period,[9] is still confronted with a majority of delegates (including, as of now, several delegates of the opposition), who prefer to keep that topic out of the Landtag.[10]
External links
- Chronology of the case Mollath, on the web page of Mollath supporters, it contains links to original pdf documents including the judgement/sentence 2006 and the charges filed by Mr. Mollath. The HypoVereinbank audit report is published by the Südwestrundfunk.
- Direct link to the audit report of the HypoVereinsbank, 2003
- "Der Fall Gustl Mollath. Unschuldig in der Psychiatrie" (Translation of the title: "The Case Gustl Mollath. Innocently in the Psychiatry.") Report Mainz/ARD - there is also a a direct link to "Der Fall Gustl Mollath" by Report Mainz on the page of the Südwestrundfunk/ARD. It loads a bit slower, but wikipedia readers with fast computers might prefer this one.
- German wikipedia page about the Gustl Mollath case and an interesting article discussion, also on de.wikipedia.org
Further links to German media reporting about this case
- SZ/Süddeutsche Zeitung, 24.11.2012
- see also the list of media coverage on the supporters web page
Media Coverage in English
Further References
<references>
- ^ The Bavarian state prosecution department dismissed his charges in 2003, claiming, they were "too inacurate" and "too general". Gustl was naming names and bank accounts. The HypoVereinsbank answered to questions why their reaction was just an internal one and why they did not file charges in 2003, when their internal audit report was ready, with the explanation that the audit results were too vague, which is described by the Süddeutsche as a grotesque downplay
- ^ Nov 30th, 2012 - Ein Anruf bei Finanzbehörden stoppte brisanten Vorgang, online on nordbayern.de
- ^ Fall Mollath: Merk beantragt Wiederaufnahme des Verfahrens, Nov 30th, 2012 - quotation: "... Der Ministeriumssprecher betonte, dass allein der neue Bericht der «Nürnberger Nachrichten» Anlass für Merk gewesen sei, einen Antrag auf Wiederaufnahme des Verfahrens zu veranlassen. ...", translation: "... The Minister spokesperson stressed that only the new report of the "Nürnberger Nachrichten" gave reason to order a resumption of the case ...", later highlighted further by the Nürnberger Nachrichten twitter account. Given the high amount of media reports, there are enough reasons to assume there was a new fact needed in order to publicly back up the total review of the case, since the people in the country were increasingly dissatisfied with Merks behaviour, see, as just an example of many, the Süddeutsche article "Reaktionen auf Fall Mollath - "Herrn Mollath und Frau Merk umgehend entlassen" (Translation of the title: "Reactions to Case Mollath - Dismiss Mrs. Merk and release Mr. Mollath immediately")
- ^ link to full length interview Report Mainz with Beate Merk
- ^ "alle nachprüfbaren Behauptungen haben sich als zutreffend herausgestellt"
- ^ Kate Connolly: "German man locked up over HVB bank allegations may have been telling truth". Guardian Nov 28th, 2012
- ^ ("es ist nicht auszuschließen, dass Herr Mollath die Vorwürfe bezüglich des Transfers von Geldern von Deutschland in die Schweiz in die Öffentlichkeit bringt" - "it can not be excluded that Mr. Mollath will make public the allegations regarding transfers of monies from Germany to Switzerland" - see linked HypoVereinbank audit report PDF).
- ^ (mentioned by Report Mainz, in the linked report "Der Fall Gustl Mollath, see "Web Links" below. This sentence is, among others, also mentioned by the tagblatt tagblatt: "Justizministerin unter Verdacht". Nov 15th, 2012 and by the Südwestrundfunk. Südwestrundfunk (The quotation is: "Wenn Gustl meine Bank und mich anzeigt, mache ich ihn fertig. Dann zeige ich ihn auch an, das kannst du ihm sagen. Der ist doch irre, den lasse ich auf seinen Geisteszustand überprüfen, dann hänge ich ihm was an, ich weiß auch wie.") - Translation: "If Gustl presses charges against my bank and me, I will fuck him up. I will press charges against him too then, you can tell him that. He's crazy, I will have his mental condition checked, then I will get something to stick on him, and I know how.") Additionally, the affidavit states that she said if her husband "keeps his trap shut", he could keep EUR 500 000 of his assets, and that the message should be passed on. SPIEGEL: Gustl Mollath und die HypoVereinsbank: Weggeräumt und stillgestellt. November 21st, 2012, article by Conny Neumann
- ^ A link to the source for this statement was here but was reverted by the bot.
- ^ telepolis/heise.de, Nov 28th 2012