German industry calls for guarantee of 'legal closure' before pay-outs begin

German firms said on Friday they were not yet prepared to initiate compensation payments from a $4.8 billion fund for some one million ageing World War II forced laborers and Nazi-era slaves. Wolfgang Gribowski, spokesman for the German firms involved in contributing to the fund, said a working group of German industry members and government officials would examine which among 17 class action lawsuits still pending in the United States would need to be dismissed before "legal closure" is guaranteed and pay-outs can begin. Manfred Gentz, financial head of fund member Daimler-Chrysler AG, said that "a number of relevant cases" would need to be thrown out before the firms could consider legal closure in place. Gentz did not name the lawsuits he had in mind. Gribowski also said the German firms did not expect all the cases would have to be dismissed before commencing the long-delayed pay-outs. The German companies on Tuesday finally raised the remaining $668 million for the fund, which the German government will match. (Reuters)