Gustl Mollath

Gustl Mollath is a German Whistleblower from Nuremberg (Nürnberg in German) born in 1956 who reported about 'black 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 to the Bavarian prosecution department. The Bavarian prosecution department ignored his reports and 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 (2012). The judgement/sentence was signed in 2006.

Report Mainz/ZDF reported about this case in a widely noticed tv contribution (see reference Report Mainz). There is also a longer interview with the current Bavarian minister of justice, Mrs. Beate Merk (see reference, link to full length interview).

The case is widely reported in the German newspapers, including SZ (Süddeutsche Zeitung), SPIEGEL, WELT, taz (die tageszeitung), telepolis/heise.de, jungeWelt, and other print media. In English language, the guardian belongs to the first media reporting about the case.

The HypoVereinsbank made an audit report about the cases mentioned by him in letters addressed to them. The audit, signed in 2003, says that "all verifiable statements have been found to be accurate" ("alle nachprüfbaren Behauptungen haben sich als zutreffend herausgestellt"). This audit was ordered by the Bavarian prosecution department in 2011, the department has is since the end of 2011. Until today, 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 (see linked interview with Report Mainz) and that "she has no doubt the case had been carried out 'by the book and quite correctly'" (source: guardian Nov 28th, 2012).

The audit report also contains a sentence mentioning that "it can not be excluded" that Gustl Mollath will approach the media with information ("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).

There exists an affidavit, signed by a person whom his former wife told that she will "destroy" Gustl Mollath if he files charges against the Bank or her (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: see 1 and by the 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.")

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 in 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 28th, Frank Streibl from the Freie Wähler, who is raising attention at this case in the Bavarian Parliament (bayrischer Landtag) for a longer period link to source, is still confronted with a majority of delegates who prefer to keep that topic out of the Landtag (source: telepolis/heise.de, Nov 28th 2012). The CSU has 92 seets in the Bavarian Parliament.

Web 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

- 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

- SPIEGEL 21.11.2012

- SZ/Süddeutsche Zeitung, 24.11.2012

- see also the list of media coverage on the supporters web page

Media Coverage in English

- guardian, Nov 28th, 2012