A German authority has sued the Swiss bank Julius Baer in an attempt to retrieve missing money that belonged to a former East German export company and were transferred to the bank decades ago, however a Swiss court has denied Berlin's claims, German media reported.
The Canton of Zurich's Court of Appeals has confirmed a ruling of the first instance in favor of the bank made in December, according to an announcement by Julius Baer on Tuesday. The judgment in the second instance is not yet final.
The amount that German authorities have been trying to retrieve amounts to 200 million Swiss francs ($205 million or €168 million). The missing funds include an initial 97 million Swiss francs and interest lost since 1994.
The cash was transferred to Cantrade bank, which was later taken over by the private Swiss bank Julius Baer.
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The bank reportedly approved transfers until 1992, although by that time they had become illegal after German reunification in 1990.
The lawsuit is part of large-scale efforts by German authorities to recover funds that went missing during the turbulent period of the early 1990s.
In 2013, Berlin won one such case when a Swiss court ruled that Bank Austria should pay Germany €254 million for transfers between East Berlin, Vienna and Zurich.
