Mannesmann Retrial Possible

Deutsche Bank Chief Executive Officer Josef Ackermann and other former Mannesmann officials may face a retrial after a German prosecutor appealed the decision acquitting those involved in the trial. The appeal to the Federal Court of Justice in Leipzig, Germany's highest court, challenges a ruling of the Düsseldorf regional court that cleared the officials of charges related to bonuses paid during Vodafone's €154 billion ($191 billion) takeover of the German phone company in 2000. The prosecutor's office submitted the arguments for the appeal on Friday, spokeswoman Simone Kämpfer said in an e-mailed statement received by Bloomberg news service. "In more than 100 pages of reasons for the appeal, the prosecution challenges primarily the flawed application of the breach of trust law,'' Kämpfer said, declining to elaborate. The appeal to will allow Germany's highest court to look into the country's first criminal case on management payout, setting a precedent for future bonus decisions, law professors said after the ruling in July. Should the judges find the Düsseldorf court decision was flawed, Ackermann and the other defendants could face retrial before another panel of the Düsseldorf regional court.