Peter Sodann is well known as the police inspector on the popular TV show Tatort (Germany’s answer to Law&Order). But now he is running as the LEFT party’s candidate for president. I think Sodann has hit upon a winning campaign strategy: go after Deutsche Bank’s arrogant CEO Josef Ackermann:
Gigantic, multi-billion-euro bank bailouts are one thing. But if we are
to truly get a grip on the financial crisis, we might have to take more
drastic action. Why not throw a few bankers behind bars — starting
with Josef Ackermann, CEO of Deutsche Bank?Sure, it sounds absurd. But Germany’s far-left Left Party has never
been a group to shy away from a bit of populism. The idea to arrest
Ackermann comes from the party’s newly crowned candidate for the German
presidency, Peter Sodann.If he were a (fictional) federal police commissioner, Sodann said,
"I would arrest Mr. Ackermann, the head of Deutsche Bank," he told the Sächsische Zeitung on Thurdsay. "They would throw me out, of course, but at least I would have done it."
Ackermann was of course outraged and demanded an apology. But it is interesting to note how few politicians in Germany have come to Ackermann’s defense. In fact, Ackermann angered chancellor Angela Merkel after making comments that "he would be ashamed" to accept the massive bank bailout package that was pushed through the Bundestag.
But behind Sodann’s "humorous" proposal there is a serious aspect. In the US, the FBI is investigating the activities of a number of banking institutions to determine what crimes were committed by which bankers. Deutsche Bank was already forced by the Attorney General of New York State to pay a $15 million fine for its role in selling Auction Rate Securities (ARS). And Deutsche Bank played a major role in the subprime mortgage scandal. Will the bank and its managers be held in account for cheating US homeowners and robbing German taxpayers?
Related Posts:
Deutsche Bank: America’s Foreclosure King
Did Deutsche Bank Defraud the German Taxpayers?
Deutsche Bank and the ARS Scandal
Karma and Bad Times for Deutsche Bank in America
Deutsche Bank Throwing Americans out on the Street
0 comment
Maybe it’s because I generally don’t like tv, but for me Peter Sodann is the typical GDR-chauvinist. For him, Germany isn’t a democracy. He would arrest someone for sheer populist reasons. As a judge, he probably would be for the application of the death penalty against Ackermann. President, policeman, judge and obshchestvennij sveditelx in one person? No, thanx.
“Es ist das größere Verbrechen, eine Bank zu gründen, als eine Bank auszurauben.” – Bertolt Brecht (“What is the crime of robbing a bank compared to that of founding one.”)
At least Sodann never has played the role of a soldier, otherwise he likely would have declared war to Liechtenstein, the Isle of Man and Switzerland.—
There are many reasons to vote for the Left Party, but it is good to know that the German President will not be elected directly by the people. Sodann is rather a tool in the hands of Lafontaine and Gysi to push around the SPD than a real candidate…
Ehm…. “Germany’s answer to Law&Order”?
1. Tatort is not “German”, it from Germany and Austria (and between 1990-2001 Switzerland)
2. Law&Order is established in 1990 and Tatort is established in 1970
Dududu…Jetzt muss ich mal den Oberlehrer spielen, obwohl mein Englsisch so schlecht ist.