Stink in the Creditanstalt

Back in 1929 the collapse of Austria's Creditanstalt, controlled by the Rothschilds, did much to spark the worldwide depression. The bank served Hitler during the Anschluss and now, under state operation, controls at least 60% of Austria's economy. Now, as it was under Hitler, the Creditanstalt is run by Joseph Joham, the wealthiest and perhaps the most powerful man in Austria.

Responsible for handling the vast bulk of the $900 million in ECA funds with which the U.S. has kept Austria alive since the war, Joham's Creditanstalt built up a complex labyrinth of foreign holding and trading companies (including some in New York which were forced to return $1,000,000 in overcharges for ECA goods in 1950, another listed as owned by Joham's son in London, another in France half-owned by the son). Under Joham's management, the Creditanstalt struck large and questionable deals with Soviet and satellite traders, e.g., lard bought with ECA dollars from the U.S. was sold to Hungary for a 30% profit and, despite big profits shown in bank audits, provided not a cent of profit for the Austrian government.

Suspicious of the Creditanstalt's activities, U.S. High Commissioner Walter Donnelly (now Ambassador to Bonn), made a point of snubbing Joham, excluded him when he invited Austrians to meet Secretary of State Acheson in Vienna recently, and pressed unsuccessfully for his removal from the bank. But Austrian offi cials did hire an American auditing firm, at $500 a day, for a year-long look at the books. They soon found a foreign-currency employee who admitted engaging in illegal currency deals with people in Switzerland. He implicated others.

Last week, Austrian police arrested eight Direktors (department heads) of the Creditanstalt, including the chief of its ECA bureau, on charges involving "millions of dollars" of illicit currency deals. They hinted that some others also would be arrested. It remained to be seen what responsibility, if any, would be at tached to Joseph Joham, who has progressed so profitably through depression, Anschluss, war and chaotic peace.

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