Mannesmann Six walk free

Former Mannesmann chief Klaus Esser and five other board members, including the Deutsche Bank head Josef Ackermann, walked free today after a six-month criminal trial for breach of fiduciary duty.

The case centred on €57m worth of bonus and pension payments to top Mannesmann executives after the £180bn takeover by Vodafone. Esser alone collected £10m.

Judge Brigitte Koppenhoefer said that it was not up to a criminal court to judge management decisions or to make moral or ethical judgements but she did put the boot into Esser.

She is reported to have said: "Additional remuneration for Esser equals double pay. There was no benefit for Mannesmann to pay him for integration into Vodafone."

The Mannesmann takeover caused outrage in Germany where it was seen as selling one of the crown jewels of German industry to a foreigner. This turned to fury when the Mannesmann board scattered huge bonuses around the executives.

Ackermann, head of Deutsche Bank since 2002, reportedly said that he is looking forward to getting back to the bank full time to focus on the bank's future, which may include a merger with a foreign rival.

Since the beginning of January, Ackermann has had to commute 155 miles from the bank's HQ in Frankfort to Dusseldorf for the two-day-a-week trial. The state prosecutors are reported to want to appeal against the ruling at the federal court of justice.