The Hague, 15 September 2006

Eurojust co-ordinated a successful overnight operation regarding the speedy arrest of Mr. Helmut Elsner in France. This was based on a European Arrest Warrant issued by the Austrian Authorities.

The case involves a huge bank fraud in Austria. The suspect was the former head of the BAWAG bank, one of the largest banking groups in Austria. The 71-year-old man is the key figure in a large banking scandal, involving at least
€ 1.700.000.000 (one billion seven hundred million Euro). He used the bank funds to invest in speculative Caribbean investments.

Dr. Ulrike Haberl-Schwarz, Vice-President of Eurojust and National Member for Austria, said: “Eurojust played a vital role in this case which is extremely important from a financial and political perspective in Austria. I am very pleased that again Eurojust has been able to show how effective co-operation and co-ordination at EU level can be in such a significant case. This has enabled the national law enforcement authorities to arrest suspects even when they move and operate across Europe. Therefore, the law enforcement authorities were ahead of the suspect and his networks.”

During the night of 13 September, Eurojust was contacted by the Austrian Prosecutor of Vienna to facilitate the transmission and execution of a European Arrest Warrant (EAW) to France, in connection with the arrest of the suspect in the south of France.

The Austrian National Desk at Eurojust immediately conferred with the French National Desk in order to contact the French General Prosecutor in Aix-en- Provence. In the meantime, the EAW was translated into French. At 03.00 h, the EAW was sent via Eurojust to the authorities in Aix-en-Provence.

Thanks to this speedy overnight action and co-ordination by the two National Desks at Eurojust, the French judicial authorities and the police took immediate action and the suspect was arrested in his villa in France on the morning of Tuesday 14 September. He is now in custody in Nice, France. He will probably be surrendered to the Austrian authorities within 14 days.

This action could not have been possible without the expertise and assistance of Eurojust. The National Members are on stand-by 24/24, 7/7, for important and difficult cases. The fact that the National Members are always in close contact with each other offers the possibility to act quickly and also to act in conformity with the different legislations in the EU Member States.

In addition, Eurojust acted as facilitator for the seizure of the properties of the suspect in France.