Court keeps 100mn Meinl bailout
The Vienna criminal court has said it will not repay 100 million Euros paid out in bail last year for Julius Meinl V.The British businessman was freed after one and a half days in custody in Vienna after legal officials received the record 100-million-Euro bailout.Herbert Eichenseder, a member of the entrepreneurs team of legal advisors, announced today (Tues) the court had decided to keep the money at least until it received another expert opinion in the procedures against Meinl European Land (MEL).MEL is accused of fraud as it advertised its investment certificates as safe investments in 2007 before its shares tumbled shortly afterwards.Meinl, who acted as the institutes chief executive until the end of 2007, was arrested in March 2009 but released after spending less than 48 hours in custody.Officials also took away his passport over fears he might flee. Meinl was forced to get in touch with authorities everyday to prove he was in Austria for some months, but was handed back his passport recently.MEL changed its name to Atrium European Real Estate (AERE) recently.Multi-millionaire Meinl is the great-grandchild of Julius Meinl I who established the famous Meinl coffee and foodstuff factory in 1862.