Ex German president investigated over 700 euro cash bribe.

steddyeddy

A German friend of mine was saying to me that she thinks that Irish people generally put up wit a of crap from our politicians and our state in general. I'm inclined to agree with her to be honest. I don't mean this as a "bash the Irish thread" I just mean that we deserve a lot better as a people. I personally agree with some psychologists when they say that we have the psychology of a colonised nation and as a result we exhibit a learned helplessness. It's bewildering to me that this guy is investigated for 700 euro and Haughey's family still have an island!!

Anyway my mate sent me this link which really sums up the difference in expectations we have as a people.

Christian Wulff yesterday became Germany’s first post-war president to go on trial, charged with corruption for accepting some €700 for a hotel stay and meals during an Oktoberfest beer festival when he was a state premier.
Once seen as one of the country’s brightest political talents, Wulff served just 20 months as president before he resigned last year over accusations he accepted favours before he was elected president in 2010.
Mr Wulff (54), a former ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel, denied the allegations, saying he hoped to clear his name with a victory in court after rejecting an offer from state prosecutors to settle the case with an out-of-court payment. In court, Mr Wulff delivered a 50-minute statement in which he criticised state prosecutors for a case he called a “farce”.
“The personal damage to me and my family will last, probably for the rest of my life,” he said. “I never accepted any deal. I’m here because I want justice to be done.”
Mr Wulff’s fall from the pinnacle of German politics has fascinated Germans, becoming the subject of countless talk shows and films.
It was also an embarrassment to Mrs Merkel, who Mr Wulff as her candidate for president in 2010 and stuck with her party ally as the controversy grew to fever pitch. The scandal damaged Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) and contributed to her party’s defeat in the Lower Saxony regional election in January.
“This is certainly not an easy day for me,” Mr Wulff said on his way into the court in Hanover, the capital of Lower Saxony where he was the state premier from 2003 to 2010. “I’m quite confident that I’ll be able to clear away the last remaining charges against me.”

Fallen Star
Mr Wulff, once a rising star in the CDU and a popular regional leader who was even tipped to succeed Mrs Merkel, resigned on February 17th, 2012, after prosecutors asked parliament to lift his immunity on suspicion he had accepted undue privileges.
The charges stem from his 2008 visit to the Munich Oktoberfest beer festival. Prosecutors say film producer David Groenewold covered his hotel and meal expenses worth €719. State prosecutors argued that in exchange Wulff wrote a letter to the chairman of Siemens, on behalf of Groenewold, seeking financial support for one of his film projects. – (Reuters)

Phoebas

Thread title doesn't make sense.

steddyeddy

Fixed.

Annasopra

steddyeddy wrote: »

Fixed.

Needs more fixing

baldbear

We had Bertie they had Hitler. I preferred our lad.

Muise...

bride/bribe. Interestink Freudian typo.

steddyeddy

mango salsa wrote: »

Needs more fixing

Jesus guys a thread about corruption in Ireland and the only thing the grammar bullies care about is the wording of the title.

srsly78

Include link to cheap bride site or GTFO op.

Busted Flat.

A bit dear for a one night stand.

humbert

steddyeddy wrote: »

Jesus guys a thread about corruption in Ireland and the only thing the grammar bullies care about is the wording of the title.

If the thread's so important then maybe the title deserves a second glance before hitting post.

steddyeddy

Do you know what guys I don't live here full time and I actually be living in Germany in a year so I have to say the lackadaisical attitude towards corruption is a bit disgusting. I'm not trolling but frankly a lot of you deserve to get ripped off to pay for someone's holiday island! A thread on corruption and all people seem to care about is the is spelling.

What's this about a bride anyway?

Phoebas

steddyeddy wrote: »

Jesus guys a thread about corruption in Ireland Germany and the only thing the grammar bullies care about is the wording of the title.

Fixed.

steddyeddy

Phoebas wrote: »

Fixed.

I was using the case in Germany to illustrate the attitude towards corruption in Ireland. It's not rocket science mate.

humbert

steddyeddy wrote: »

Do you know what guys I don't live here full time and I actually be living in Germany in a year so I have to say the lackadaisical attitude towards corruption is a bit disgusting. I'm not trolling but frankly a lot of you deserve to get ripped off to pay for someone's holiday island! A thread on corruption and all people seem to care about is the is spelling.

What's this about a bride anyway?

You've convinced me! First I'll thank your post and then I'll start a Facebook chain-mail and between us we should have corruption licked by the morning.

diomed

We have higher standards. We might investigate a €70,000 bribe.
Or we might have a tribunal and pay lawyers millions, and then get bored.

steddyeddy

humbert wrote: »

You've convinced me! First I'll thank your post and then I'll start a Facebook chain-mail and between us we should have corruption licked by the morning.

You're really bewildering people like you. Corruption is hard to tackle so lets not.

deblacker

Corruption here:

"During 1993, while he was Finance Minister, Ahern accepted payments of IR £39,000 from various businessmen. These payments did not become public knowledge until 2006."

Corruption there:

"Christian Wulff yesterday became Germany’s first post-war president to go on trial, charged with corruption for accepting some €700 for a hotel stay and meals during an Oktoberfest beer festival when he was a state premier."

39,000.00 GBP = 46,554.26 EUR

€45,854 worth of contrast?

steddyeddy

deblacker wrote: »

Corruption here:

"During 1993, while he was Finance Minister, Ahern accepted payments of IR £39,000 from various businessmen. These payments did not become public knowledge until 2006."

Corruption there:

"Christian Wulff yesterday became Germany’s first post-war president to go on trial, charged with corruption for accepting some €700 for a hotel stay and meals during an Oktoberfest beer festival when he was a state premier."

39,000.00 GBP = 46,554.26 EUR

€45,854 worth of contrast?

And Bertie, Lowry, Haughey et al got away with it.

Absoluvely

deblacker wrote: »

Corruption here:

"During 1993, while he was Finance Minister, Ahern accepted payments of IR £39,000 from various businessmen. These payments did not become public knowledge until 2006."

Corruption there:

"Christian Wulff yesterday became Germany’s first post-war president to go on trial, charged with corruption for accepting some €700 for a hotel stay and meals during an Oktoberfest beer festival when he was a state premier."

39,000.00 GBP = 46,554.26 EUR

€45,854 worth of contrast?

.

mickdw

No chance of them going on trial here. We invite them to attend a tribunal instead. We then in cases where they are deemed to have cooperated with the tribunal pay them for having attended and pay them for their legal team as well.

steddyeddy

I wonder how much we would save as a country if we stamped out this type of crime. I think people fail to realise that if you let people away with corruption it creates a situation where corruption is facilitated. If we dealt with these cases maybe we would have prevented the nama corruption or some of the banking fraud.

SpaceTime

However, if he didn't pay his TV license they'd probably lock him up alright!

Massive corruption's grand, but failure to pay a broadcasting charge is a heinous offence that must be punished with the full might of the legal system!

BMJD

until Enda starts WW3, I don't give a ****e

dxhound2005

steddyeddy wrote: »

A German friend of mine was saying to me that she thinks that Irish people generally put up wit a of crap from our politicians and our state in general. I'm inclined to agree with her to be honest. I don't mean this as a "bash the Irish thread" I just mean that we deserve a lot better as a people. I personally agree with some psychologists when they say that we have the psychology of a colonised nation and as a result we exhibit a learned helplessness. It's bewildering to me that this guy is investigated for 700 euro and Haughey's family still have an island!!

Anyway my mate sent me this link which really sums up the difference in expectations we have as a people.

Did your friend happen to mention the investigation into the €700,000 donation from BMW to Angela Merkel?

http://rt.com/news/merkel-criticism-bmw-carbon-305/

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is under fire for accepting a nearly 700,000-euro donation to her conservative party by owners of popular car maker BMW, so much so that the country’s president is being forced to clamp down on massive political gifts.

The pressure to do so stems from the opposition, as well as anti-corruption watchdogs like Transparency International.

user2011

steddyeddy wrote: »

Do you know what guys I don't live here full time and I actually be living in Germany in a year so I have to say the lackadaisical attitude towards corruption is a bit disgusting. I'm not trolling but frankly a lot of you deserve to get ripped off to pay for someone's holiday island! A thread on corruption and all people seem to care about is the is spelling.

What's this about a bride anyway?

Thanked and +1

steddyeddy

dxhound2005 wrote: »

Did your friend happen to mention the investigation into the €700,000 donation from BMW to Angela Merkel?

http://rt.com/news/merkel-criticism-bmw-carbon-305/

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is under fire for accepting a nearly 700,000-euro donation to her conservative party by owners of popular car maker BMW, so much so that the country’s president is being forced to clamp down on massive political gifts.

The pressure to do so stems from the opposition, as well as anti-corruption watchdogs like Transparency International.

Yes she did actually. Glad to see it's being investigated.

Capt'n Midnight

In the UK they've jailed yet another MP for fiddling expenses
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-25492017

But our lot get paid more than German or UK politicians so obviously our higher salaries are attracting better qualified and more honest people 'cos our lot don't go to prison :rolleyes:

dxhound2005

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

In the UK they've jailed yet another MP for fiddling expenses
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-25492017

But our lot get paid more than German or UK politicians so obviously our higher salaries are attracting better qualified and more honest people 'cos our lot don't go to prison :rolleyes:

Someone could only be sent to prison following a trial and conviction. Unless you have some other system in mind. What crimes do you know about that should be prosecuted? Apart from this case which is in process.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/1015/480507-callely-trial/

steddyeddy

dxhound2005 wrote: »

Someone could only be sent to prison following a trial and conviction. Unless you have some other system in mind. What crimes do you know about that should be prosecuted? Apart from this case which is in process.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/1015/480507-callely-trial/

Trial and conviction works great except that we don't seem to do it for large scale fraud or corruption.

Knob Longman

steddyeddy wrote: »

A German friend of mine was saying to me that she thinks that Irish people generally put up wit a of crap from our politicians and our state in general. I'm inclined to agree with her to be honest. I don't mean this as a "bash the Irish thread" I just mean that we deserve a lot better as a people. I personally agree with some psychologists when they say that we have the psychology of a colonised nation and as a result we exhibit a learned helplessness. It's bewildering to me that this guy is investigated for 700 euro and Haughey's family still have an island!!

Anyway my mate sent me this link which really sums up the difference in expectations we have as a people.

Totally agree with your friend..

deblacker

XE doesn't convert Irish Pounds, that's the closest that I could get I'm afraid

Capt'n Midnight

deblacker wrote: »

XE doesn't convert Irish Pounds, that's the closest that I could get I'm afraid

divide by .787564

the_syco

steddyeddy wrote: »

Anyway my mate sent me this link which really sums up the difference in expectations we have as a people.

Us Irish loves a ho'er. We love the underdog who got away with it. And for the most part we'll vote in those who got away with whatever scandal they were charged with. And then we'll wonder why they "broke our trust" by being involved in another scandal, and the cycle continues.

woodoo

Very worrying that most people posting on this thread are most likely young and don't seem to give a dam about corruption. Looks like this generation may not address it either.