Sat 5 Nov 2005 

2:12pm (UK)
Tate denies Turner paintings ransom 

The Tate Gallery has denied new claims that it paid a multi-million pound
ransom to under-world art thieves to recover two stolen Turner masterpieces.

A documentary examining the intriguing case will allege the bulk of the £3.3
million cost of an eight-year operation to recover the two works was passed
to criminals.

Undercover Art Deal, to be screened on BBC2 on Wednesday, claims that
payments of £330,000, £600,000 and 2.5 million euros (£1,687,174) were made
to secure the return of the paintings - insured for a total of £24 million.

A Tate spokeswoman confirmed that the gallery gained authority from the
Government and High Court to use funds to aid the return of the works, but
insisted money was only paid for information, not directly to criminals.
"What we are absolutely clear about and what was explained at the time, is
that no ransom was paid," said the spokeswoman.

The two works - Shade And Darkness: The Evening Of The Deluge, and Light And
Colour (Goethe's Theory): The Morning after the Deluge - were stolen from
the Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt in 1994 while on loan to the exhibition
Goethe And The Visual Arts.

Though the first painting was recovered in July 2000, Tate officials only
announced the success of their operation in December 2002 following the
retrieval of Light and Colour. Three thieves and a driver were arrested in
1995 and convicted in Germany in 1999.

In 1995, insurers paid out £24 million to the Tate and the title to the
works passed to the insurance company.

A deal was later agreed for the gallery to buy back the insurers' title for
£8 million.

Officials at the Tate then secured Government and court consent to use some
of the insurance pay-out to fund the successful recovery operation - making
an eventual profit of £15 million from the deal.

At the time, Tate director Sir Nicholas Serota said his gallery had not
"paid the thieves in any sense" and insisted the £3.3 million costs had been
used for travel, expenses, and payments for information. A spokeswoman for
the gallery, which receives £50 million annual public funding, said the case
had been a "one-off" and the only major theft the Tate has suffered.


This article: 

  http://www.scotsman.com/?id=2200242005 

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