Last week, some 500 police and prosecutors raided the headquarters of Deutsche Bank in Germany.
The action was prompted by a tax probe involving the sale of carbon-emission certificates. Trading of CO2 certifcates was launched several years in Europe, and you can find details on Wikipedia here.
While the news of a government raid on a bank is interesting, it is the reaction of one of the chiefs of the bank that is the reason for this post.
Mr. Fitschen, co-CEO of the bank, picked up the telephone and called Hessen State Prime Minister Bouffier to complain about the raid.
Notwithstanding the fact that the probe has been going on for two or so years, and ignoring that five employees were arrested, Mr. Fitschen voiced his view that "excessive action" by the government was damaging the reputation of Deutsche Bank.
As if there was much left to be damaged. Deutsche Bank has had a reputation for being the bank of the upper middle class and business. And they behaved as such, with a good measure of arrogance and hype.
Who knows, right now it is all about allegations. Maybe there will not be any conviction.
The point is that any small business owner or any teacher who gets a visit from the tax inspector would be ill-advised to try and call their local state executive to lodge a complaint.
Regarding Deutsche Bank, they could use some advice on the finer points of bitching, couldn't they?
[Update 20 Dec] The second raid in a week according to Der Spiegel. Instead of blatant mindless fun on my part, maybe I should ask for a job as a crisis manager there. Whoever they have right now is obviously a, wait, wait, "not a perfect match for the position".
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