Shipwrecks & Lost Treasures of the Seven Seas

Tillman W... - Legal battle between a German looter and his German agent, both based in Singapore.


Shipwreck Scandal - Indonesia Investigates German treasure hunter for Fraud

By Jürgen Kremb


Tilman Walterfang used to be a star in Indonesia. With the discovery of a Tang Dynasty shipwreck in 1998, the one-time mechanic became a famous archeologist and helped Indonesians learn more about the 'Silk Road of the Sea.' Now, Walterfang is being investigated by Jakarta, which believes he may have swindled the government out of millions of dollars.



And some more...

In 1998, German treasure hunter Tilman Walterfang found over 60,000 pieces of ancient Chinese ceramic dating to between the 7th and 10th centuries, near the Bangka-Belitung islands. The discovery was praised as one of the most important ever in Asia, as it helped archeologists understand the ancient trade route known as the 'Silk Road of the sea'.

While the recovered materials were valued at about $80 million, Walterfang ended up paying Indonesia only $2.5 million in cash plus a number of unsold pieces.

To avoid paying the state its share of the treasure, Walterfang, who was reportedly financed by Matthias Dragger, a wealthy heir to Germany's Dragger family fortune, and his affluent brother-in-law Hans Michael Jebsen, director and co-owner of Jebsen & Co., a leading Hong Kong-based trading company, allegedly bribed several high-ranking officials in the Defense Ministry and the Navy.

German publication Der Spiegel, in its Jan. 30, 2006, edition, reported that Walterfang sold most of the ceramic pieces to the Singapore government in 2005 for $32 million, while taking recovered gold pieces to Germany and a large part of the remaining ceramics to New Zealand.

'We are still investigating the case. Unfortunately, all of the ship's crew, including the German, has left Indonesia. We are trying to trace him to find out why the state received so little,' a police officer close to the investigation told the Post. (Abdul Khalik)
 




  @ More about the scam...
@ Resume of the story
@ Illicit operations salvaging historic wrecks
@ Shipwreck salvors see sunken treasure for the taking
@ Law case - Rickshaw Investments Ltd and Another vs Nicolai Baron von Uexkull
@ Sunken Chinese Treasures Rewrite History




Comments (3)

3. catrina The 28 Apr. 2009 at 15:24

hi g. walterfang you are guilty

2. Pascal The 24 Feb. 2009 at 07:56

Lien vers le site web de Pascal Envoyer un e-mail à Pascal
Hello G. Walterfang,

What you can read on this website is taken from the world press. So his bad reputation is already known all over the place.

But what your father might or might not have told you is that he found a nasty way to spoliate the french group Ocean Research Ltd, led by Pascal Kainic, which was first to ask the permit to the authorities in Jakarta, back in 1998 !

And as far as we know from the actual authorities, he is not welcome to start other projects in Indonesia "under his name" even though he has regularly ask for it those last few years...

PS: To put your email on comments is optionnal, but as you didn't add it, I answer you through the website.

1. G. Walterfang The 24 Feb. 2009 at 06:53

wow you people put together a nice wee story about my father....
Add a comment
You

Your message

More smileys

Security field

Please retype the characters from the image :