Mystery Donor Offers $30M Reward for MH17 Culprit

German investigative firm says offer is legit, with funds held in Zurich
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 18, 2014 9:59 AM CDT
Mystery Man Offers $30M Reward for MH17 Culprit
A girl holding a candle squats next to candles forming the letters "MH17" during an event to mourn the victims of the crashed Malaysia Airlines flight.   (AP Photo/Lai Seng Sin)

Everyone wants to know who shot Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 out of the skies over Ukraine in July, but one unknown entity really wants to know—and is apparently willing to pony up $30 million for the answer. Wifka, a German private-investigation firm, says it has a client who's offering the huge reward and that the offer is legit, with funds already set aside in a Swiss bank account, USA Today reports. But even the investigators don't know who the client is: All Josef Resch, who runs Wifka, could tell German magazine Capital is that he has met with intermediaries in different countries and that one man had a Swiss accent, NBC News reports.

Whoever wants these answers has many pointed questions, as can be seen in the official Wifka statement: Who shot down MH17, who gave the order, who was "directly involved with the shoot down," and "what happened to the weapon used" are a few of the specific queries Wifka's client poses. Resch has his own hunches about who the mystery client could be, including an intelligence agent, a wealthy Russian trying to get rid of Putin, or even the Russian president himself attempting to get someone to somehow pin the incident on Ukraine, according to USA Today. Although Wifka warns tipsters to "take great care" and contact the group with an attorney's help—"details should not lightly be given away in emails or on the phone"—it also promises to collaborate confidentially and set up a "new identity" for anyone who's got the info it's looking for. (More Malaysia Airlines stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X