Letter Bomb Sent to German Bank Chief

BERLIN — German authorities said Thursday that a suspicious envelope intercepted by Deutsche Bank employees was a letter bomb sent to the bank’s chief executive, Josef Ackermann, one of the most powerful and controversial figures in European banking.

In a joint statement the state police in Hessen and the Frankfurt prosecutor’s office said that “initial investigations show that this was a functional letter bomb.” The letter was addressed personally to Mr. Ackermann.
Though a native Swiss, Mr. Ackermann is the most prominent banker in Germany, his name synonymous with an industry whose reputation has plummeted since the financial crisis.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for sending the letter bomb to Mr. Ackermann, and the police did not name any suspects or suspected groups. The Frankfurt offshoot of the Occupy Wall Street movement condemned the action.

Threats on the lives of Deutsche Bank executives are not taken lightly here after the 1989 assassination of Alfred Herrhausen, the bank’s chief at the time, in a bomb attack. Suspicions fell on the Red Army Faction terrorist group.
According to the statement by police and prosecutors, employees in the Deutsche Bank mailroom discovered the envelope on Wednesday and, suspicious of its contents, had it X-rayed before contacting police around midday. Klaus Thoma, a spokesman for the bank, said bank employees had alerted police to a suspicious package but said he would not comment further on the matter.
Frankfurt police and specialists from the state police defused the letter bomb. Details on the construction of the bomb were not available for “investigative tactical reasons,” the statement said.

Mr. Ackermann is also chairman of the Institute of International Finance, an industry group that has lobbied against regulations that would require higher capital requirements to help prevent future crises. He was also involved in negotiations over write-downs of Greek debt, sometimes called haircuts, for private bond owners.
Chancellor Angela Merkel came under scrutiny in 2009 for hosting a dinner party the year before with Mr. Ackermann as a guest. The German media described the event as a birthday party in Mr. Ackermann’s honor, raising questions about the cozy ties between finance and government.
Prosecutors also recently searched the executive offices of Deutsche Bank on suspicion that Mr. Ackermann and other executives gave false testimony in a long-running civil suit related to the 2002 bankruptcy of a Germany media company. Deutsche Bank has denied any wrongdoing.
Mr. Ackermann has announced that he will step down from his post in 2012.