A foundation charged with planning and building a $100 million state-of-the-art opera house in Lucerne Switzerland was prevented from formally learning the source of the money, the Supreme Court heard yesterday.

The $100 million case opened yesterday morning with Dr Hubert Achermann, the director of Stiftung Salle Modulable, the foundation which was planning and was to build the opera house, on the witness stand. His witness statement was cross examined by Mark Cran QC for Butterfield Trust Bermuda Ltd (BTB).

Mr Cran, a lawyer with Attride-Stirling & Woloniecki, and his team is defending the role of BTB — with whom the trust containing the funds earmarked for the project resided — in stopping more than $100 million in funding for the building of a performing arts centre in Lucerne, Switzerland.

Chief Justice Ian Kawaley is hearing the case brought by Swiss arts foundations Rutli Stiftung and Stiftung Salle Modulable against BTB.

Dr Achermann said from the beginning of the process, in 2007, there was no information about the donor, and all communications about the project were made through Rutli Stiftung’s Karl Reichmuth.

Mr Reichmuth was adamant the donor should be anonymous, while Dr Achermann told the court he was anxious to understand the structure of the arrangements and that Stiftung Salle Modulable could be confident of the funds and ensure the source of funds was a legitimate one. “I would prefer to see and check,” he said.

Dr Achermann said: “I had insisted from the beginning to talk to someone from the trust. That was denied consistently. As a lawyer I wanted to understand — as a good lawyer — I wanted to see what was behind Mr Reichmuth.”

He said: “I could not get over the hurdle of this anonymous donor.”

While no official confirmation was given, Dr Achermann agreed with Mr Cran that the identity of Christof Engelhorn, who had earmarked part of his pharmaceutical fortune that resided in the Art 1 Trust at BTB to fund the project, was informally known. “I think that would describe the situation,” he said.

A letter from BTB’s Patrice Minors confirming the commitment was written. “It was sent to me by Mrs Minors in July 2010,” said Dr Achermann. “I insisted on seeing the letter,” he said. “ I insisted from the beginning that I see more evidence of the commitment behind Rutli.”

He also said: “I wanted to see the trust deed. I was in the trust business for 30 years. I knew a trust was involved. Of course, I wanted to know how it was set up.” He said he did not know exactly what kind of trust it was, but did know it had been set up in Bermuda.

Dr Achermann said — responding to Mr Cran’s assertion that it is “ ... very doubtful the settlor had the power to get the trust to do anything the trust did not want us to do. What I have seen is an absolutely different reality.” Mr Cran responded: “That is up to his Lordship to decide in due course.”

Christof Hamm, the partner of Mr Engelhorn’s daughter Vera, has been described earlier in the proceedings as influencing the trust.

Mr Cran asserted that in Lucerne, Mr Hamm is viewed as a “kind of bogeyman”. “That is right,” said Dr Achermann.

He said he had learned about Mr Hamm, who he did not know personally, through a friend of the Engelhorn family, and the stories about him “were not very pleasant. I can’t confirm or deny them. It is just what I heard, and believe there was some truth.”

He said that during coffee breaks during meetings about the project in 2008 and 2009, Mr Hamm’s name did come up and “that Mr Hamm was making problems, difficulties, challenging ... Salle Modulable. I understood that was close to the truth,” he said.

By later 2009, Dr Achermann said he was hearing that things were becoming “more difficult” with the family as Mr Engelhorn’s health deteriorated. “There was more noise, more rumours,” he said.

Mr Cran asked Dr Achermann if he was concerned that the project was in jeopardy. He answered: “But at the time I had no idea how strong the resistance would be.

“If Mr Engelhorn had not died, there would not be this resistance.”

Mr Cran said: “There was increasing concern about the whole strength of the commitment to the whole project?”

Dr Achermann answered: “Yes, of course.”

The case is expected to last six weeks.