Udo Proksch

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Udo Proksch, May 29, 1934 (Rostock, Germany) – June 27, 2001 (Graz, Austria) was an Austrian businessman and industrialist. In 1991, he was convicted of the murder of six people as part of a major insurance fraud. Proksch died in prison.^[1]

In 1977 the ship Lucona sank in the Pacific Ocean, after an explosion, killing six people. Proksch, the owner of the cargo, also then owner of famous Viennese confectioners' Demel, claimed US$20 million from his insurance company, saying that the ship was carrying expensive uranium mining equipment. Lucona was located by American shipwreck hunter David Mearns, revealing that the ship had been sunk by a time bomb. Fraud was suspected, but investigations were obstructed by powerful Austrian politicians, who were friends of Proksch.

Several ex-ministers were eventually convicted over their involvement. The ex-Minister of Foreign Affairs was sentenced for forging documents authenticating the cargo. Two other ministers were dismissed for obstructing the investigations. The minister of Defense, shareholder in the Proksch firm, had given permission to deliver explosives to sabotage the ship and committed suicide when that became clear.

Proksch fled to the Philippines in 1988 after Hans Pretterebner published a book about the scandal. Proksch stayed at the palace of his personal friend, the dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

He returned to Vienna in 1989 incognito but was recognized and arrested. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison on March 11, 1991. A year later the sentence was increased to a lifelong term in prison. He died on June 27, 2001 during heart surgery.

Proksch was the first husband of the actress Daphne Wagner, daughter of Siegfried Wagner and granddaughter of the composer Richard Wagner.

[edit] Works about Proksch and the Lucona case

1988: Hans Pretterebner published a book about the Lucona case, Der Fall Lucona.
1993: A film about the Lucona case (starring David Suchet) is released.
2004: The art group monochrom stages Udo 77, a musical about the life of Udo Proksch.