How the Tate found its Turners 
By Egmont R Koch and Nina Svensson 
Directors, Underworld Art Deal  


For almost a decade two Turner masterpieces disappeared from public view
into the hands of criminal gangs. Eventually they were recovered but only
after the Tate had handed over several million pounds to a well-placed
intermediary. 


Did the Tate pull off a remarkable rescue or did they in effect pay a ransom
and set a dangerous precedent that makes future art theft more likely? 

In July 1994 two of the Tate's Turner paintings - "Shade and Darkness" and
"Light and Colour" - were stolen while on loan to the Schirn Kunsthalle in
Frankfurt. 

A leading figure in Frankfurt's Balkan mafia was believed to be the brains
behind the theft, but only the two actual thieves and a handler were ever
convicted. 

But exactly six years after the robbery, the first painting was returned to
London, followed by the second 18 months later. 

So what happened during those first six years to guide the paintings home
again? 

Initial gamble 

At the time of the robbery, each painting had been insured for £12m and the
Tate put in its claim for £24m. 


 If the masterpieces were in the hands of the Balkan mafia, this was to be
no easy undertaking 
 

But this also meant that if the stolen Turners were ever found, the
paintings would belong to the insurance company. 

Dissatisfied with this arrangement, the Tate took a gamble. 

In July 1998 they paid back £8m to the insurance company for the ownership
rights and would later seek permission from the High Court in the UK to
spend £3m of the Turner Bequest fund to try and recover the paintings. 

If the masterpieces were indeed in the hands of the Balkan mafia, this would
be no easy undertaking. 

Unlikely trio 


Two retired policemen who had previously worked on the case for Scotland
Yard - Detective Superintendent Mick Lawrence and Detective Sergeant Jurek
Rokoszynski (known as Rocky) - came on board as private detectives to help
the Tate reclaim two of Britain's national treasures. 

The end game began in the summer of 1999, when the Metropolitan Police
received confidential intelligence suggesting that a German solicitor may be
able to assist in the recovery of the paintings. 

The man's name was Edgar Liebrucks and he said he was in direct contact with
the people who were in possession of the paintings. 

He signed a contract with the gallery, but also asked the Frankfurt public
prosecutor's office for legal immunity and, according to Liebrucks, this was
granted. 

"This made it possible for me to talk to people in the certainty that I
wouldn't be called upon as a witness in a trial and made to tell a court
what was discussed," he says. 

Cat-and-mouse 


This mission was a big culture shock for Lawrence and Rocky. 

"I'd never been in a situation like this," says Lawrence, "where the
recovery of the property was far more important than the arrest of the
people who were in possession of the property." 

The operation was extremely delicate. 

"Edgar was working on behalf, I suppose you could say, on behalf of the
criminals, but he was also working for the Tate," says Lawrence, "whereas we
were working solely for the Tate. At times the situations became blurred." 

But in July 2000, Liebrucks recovered the first Turner painting. 

The sum of DM5m (£1.7m) had been paid by the Tate, plus an extra DM300,000
(£100,000) for Liebrucks' services. 

Secret location 


The second Turner was more difficult to retrieve. 

One day Liebrucks got a visit from a second gang, who said they had the
picture. 

Were they simply fall guys for the Balkan mafia worried about the police
closing in on them? 

"They were very amateurish," the lawyer recalls, "not like violent
criminals." 

But the deal with them did materialise and a couple of days before Christmas
2002, Rocky was driven to a flat outside Frankfurt where he could inspect
the painting. 

Photographs of it were taken and forwarded to the Tate's expert in London,
before money (£1.7m) was made available to Rocky for Liebrucks' clients. 

Safe return 

The private home, where the photographs were taken, held the key to the
whole story. 

The man who lived there led us to the two men who had possession of the
second Turner. 

One of them was Josef Stohl, who had hidden the masterpieces for the Balkan
mafia behind spare car parts. 

Stohl's business affairs were in a mess, and his mate Hartmut Klatt came up
with a big but very dangerous idea: they could make a fortune by selling the
Turner Stohl was guarding for the mafia and keeping the money for
themselves. 


 The Tate acted with the assistance and advice of the Metropolitan Police
and dealt with a reputable German lawyer 
Tate spokeswoman  

They sold the second Turner painting to Liebrucks and ran away from the
mafia with the money, first to Cuba and then to Brazil. 

The masterpieces were returned to the walls of the Tate. 

But had the gallery actually bought the Turners back from the Frankfurt
underworld, effectively giving money to criminals? 

Or, as the gallery insist, did they only pay for the crucial information
that led them to the paintings' whereabouts? 

The Tate rigorously defends the actions it took to recover the missing
Turners. 

A gallery spokeswoman insists that any money handed over was for information
and that "no ransom was paid". 

She also told the BBC: "The Tate acted throughout the investigation with the
assistance and advice of the Metropolitan Police and dealt with a reputable
German lawyer." 

Sandy Nairne, former Director of Programmes at the Tate who oversaw the
operation, also emphasises the Tate's working relationship with the
appropriate authorities. 

He said: "I think what we knew in all the different stages of investigation
was that a reward would be necessary... but it only emerged rather later
that there might be a particular kind of discussion through intermediaries,
and that discussion could only take place with the approval of the various
authorities. That meant authorities both in London and in Germany. 

He added: "They (the paintings) belong to the public and they should be seen
by the public." 

Underworld Art Deal will be broadcast on Wednesday, 9 November, 2005 at 1900
GMT on BBC Two. 


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/programmes/this_world/4414120.stm
_________________________
Museum Security Network
http://www.museum-security.org/
http://cpprot.te.verweg.com
http://msn-list.te.verweg.com

Sample file of Video Project
http://www.lukanga.co.uk/lukanga-sample.wmv
http://www.lukanga.co.uk/lenelly.wmv 
http://www.lukanga.co.uk/sample2.wmv 
_________________________
 

=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:

The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).

If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).