A huge scandal in Germany which is likely to roll right through the German corporate sector. Earlier during the week, German police raided the home and offices of Klaus Zumwinkel, the chief executive officer of Deutsche Post AG. He has been accused of siphoning money to the value of over $US1 million into trusts in Liechtenstein. The next day, German chancellor Angela Merkel got stuck into him and told him to issue a statement, a significant development given that Zumwinkel, 64, is a pillar of the German corporate establishment.
Now, the Spiegel reports that Zumwinkel has resigned. But this is likely to be the tip of the iceberg. According to the Spiegel, there could be as many as 125 separate investigations to be launched next week, involving as many as a thousand people. Conservative estimates put the sums involved at around 300 million ($US439.7 million) euros, but the amount could reach as high as a staggering 4 billion ($US5.8 billion) euros.
Given the circles Zumwinkel moved in, it's a warning for German business leaders.
Zumwinkel sits on the board of Morgan Stanley and is chairman of Deutsche Telekom AG, Europe's biggest telephone company, and Deutsche Postbank, Germany's largest consumer bank by clients, and also holds supervisory board seats at Deutsche Lufthansa and Arcandor. He was the first victim of the tax fraud investigation but he won't be the last.
And coming so soon after the Siemens and VW scandals, it's a sign of massive changes sweeping through the German corporate scene.
Siemens should have been disbanded after WWII (especially given its Nazi collaborations), the company appears to be TOTALLY CORRUPT and without any morals, from top to bottom. What a mess! In 2002 they even tried to TRADEMARK the word “Zyklon” … give me a break! Everyone that knew anything about this potential marketing disaster, should have been fired immediately (that goes for any lawyers, marketing and advertising people as well as any executives involved).
Also, no one has yet investigated Siemens’ role in the much publicized science ‘competition’, held each year in the US. Is this competition really as ‘clean’ as it is assumed to be and could it that this annual ‘event’ is being used as a way for Siemens to get huge amounts of free, POSITIVE publicity, for very little in expenditures (less than $2M total). So what DID happen in 2004 and 2007 anyway and were there any hidden agendas or cover-ups involved? Can Siemens ever be trusted in anything they are involved in?