Crime: Ein Kredit, der die Volksbank Köln Bonn erschüttert

In the latest installment of Handelsblatt Crime, the focus is on a loan provided by the Volksbank Köln Bonn. This was no ordinary business transaction; the Genossenschaftsbank used the loan to fund the Köln luxury brothel, "Pascha." It's possible that the loan would have remained unnoticed as a routine banking operation, had not the lawyer Claus Brockhaus, implicated in the NRW syndicate affair, reported on it during interrogations with the prosecutor's office.

The situation now reveals that there were discrepancies within the bank's executive and supervisory bodies regarding the loan. Prosecutors are investigating a board member of the bank, among other charges, concerning bribery in commercial dealings. Initially, prosecutors from Düsseldorf were handling the investigation, but the case has since been transferred to the prosecutors in Cologne.

The role of the bank's management in the loan approval, the level of scrutiny from the supervisory board regarding the proceedings and their clarification, and why four supervisory board members resigned, are all under investigation. The Volksbank Köln Bonn may have a fundamental compliance issue, according to Host Ina Karabasz, who discusses the case with Elisabeth Atzler from the bank team and Volker Votsmeier from the investigative team.

Both have extensively researched the case. For more details on the Volksbank Köln Bonn scandal, read here: Volksbank Köln Bonn: Bordell-Affäre belastet Bankchefs und Aufseher.