Post v.18

More fruit from the poison tree:

BERLIN: A wide-ranging investigation of tax evasion by Germans stashing their money abroad has led to the recovery of €27.8 million and netted 163 people, a prosecutor said Tuesday, as new investigations were spawned around the world.

In brief televised comments from the western city of Bochum, Hans-Ulrich Krück said that so far 91 people targeted in the investigation "have admitted to the facts," and had already made payments totaling €27.8 million, or $42 million.

"At the moment, that sum is rising daily," Krück said. He added that another 72 people have turned themselves in to tax authorities.

It appears the personal financial information obtained by the German government, arguabbly by means of bribery, is making it's way to tax authorities in the UK, the US, Australia, and who knows where else.

If accurate, a nice quote:

Roger Köppel, the editor-in-chief of the Swiss weekly newspaper Die Weltwoche, described it as a "fatwa by the German tax authorities against businesses and employees seeking to withdraw from a fundamentalist taxation system."

Perhaps those "surrendering" to the tax authorities prefer that route vs. a knock on the door in the middle of the night.