Billionaire Friedrich Christian Flick in Kerala for Ayurvedic treatment

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Controversial German-Swiss businessman Friedrich Christian Flick (78), grandson of Friedrich Flick, who helped the Nazi regime by providing weapons and money, reached Kerala yesterday in a chartered flight for Ayurvedic treatment. The flight will remain at Thiruvananthapuram airport until Flick's treatment is completed.

Flick and his wife arrived at the Thiruvananthapuram airport yesterday at 7.30 am on VistaJet's VJT 199 Bombardier Global 6000 flight. VistaJet is the air taxi for millionaires. Flick came to Thiruvananthapuram from Geneva.

The state police had no information that such a businessman was coming to Kerala. It was the immigration officials who identified Friedrich Christian Flick. Airport officials were also surprised when they searched for him on Google.

Flick, who is one of the heirs of a traditional German industrial family, is an art connoisseur and collector of priceless art objects. He owns a huge collection of artworks worth Rs 8200 crore. A controversy had erupted in 2004 after Flick loaned artworks worth $30 crore (Rs 2,500 crore) to the famous Hamburger Bahnhof Museum in Berlin.

A law graduate, Flick started looking after his family's business ventures after his studies. Flick's private collection, the 'Friedrich Christian Flick Collection', is a collection of 2500 works by 150 artists.