Deutsche Bank CEO to testify at German IKB trial

FRANKFURT, April 21 (Reuters) - Deutsche Bank AG's (DBKGn.DE) Chief Executive Josef Ackermann will be asked to testify at a trial examining the near-collapse of IKB Deutsche Industriebank AG IKBG.DE , a bank eyed by U.S. regulators for its dealings with Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N).

Brigitte Koppenhoefer, the German judge who oversaw an earlier trial examining Ackermann's role in awarding eye-popping bonuses to Mannesmann executives, is calling a raft of witnesses to testify in the IKB trial currently underway in a court in Duesseldorf, Germany. [ID:nLDE63J1M3]

Ackermann and the court have yet to arrange a date for his appearance, a court spokesman said on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank said Ackermann is ready to appear as a witness.

IKB's former chief executive Stefan Ortseifen, who stands accused of misleading investors about the perilous state of IKB's finances in the summer of 2007, has blamed Deutsche Bank for the near collapse of the Duesseldorf-based lender. [ID:nLDE62E25O]

Ortseifen told the court that Deutsche's decision to cut credit lines for IKB on July 27, 2007 caused "immeasurable reputational damage" for IKB, crimping its ability to function normally in nervous markets.

Deutsche Bank rejects accusations that it was the cause for the crisis at IKB.

Earlier this week Koppenhoefer asked top German finance ministry official Joerg Asmussen to appear as a witness because he was a member of IKB's supervisory board in 2007, when the bank almost imploded amid losses stemming from the subprime crisis. [ID:nLDE62E25O] ($1=.7431 Euro) (Reporting by Andreas Kroener and Alexander Huebner in Frankfurt; writing by Edward Taylor)