France Extradites Former Bank Head to Austria

On February 13, 2007, France extradited Helmet Elsner, former director general of beleaguered Ban für Arbeit und Wirtschft (Bawag), to Austria. Following France’s heavily contested decision, Elsner, along with nine other former Bawag managers, faces charges of fraud, false accounting, and breach of trust. Judge Gerda Krausam also determined that Elsner should remain in custody as a flight risk. During the 1990s, under Elsner’s leadership, Bawag participated in highly risky currency speculation in the Caribbean. An Austrian Central Bank inquiry found that between 1995 and 2003, during Elsner’s tenure as director general, Bawag lost as much as €1.8 billion in offshore derivative deals. Elsner was able to partially cover the bank’s losses in offshore accounts at Refco using the assets of OeGB, the Austrian trade union federation, as collateral ... [more]