Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2017/01/13/indicted-dieselgate-vw-execs-a.html
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They couldn’t wait for Jan 20?
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Whereupon they’ll be put in charge of Detroit? Or does America have a Department of Weights and Measures?
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So is it Volkswagen’s position these executives are innocent? Or that they’re guilty, but should not be punished?
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The enthusiasm with which the DoJ is pursuing VW seems a little … unusual given their apparent rampant indifference to practically all other corporate malfeasance. Which is not to say the Schmidt, et al, should get the same treatment as the execs at say Goldman-Sachs. Rather it’d be super nice to see G-S get the same treatment as VW.
In the meantime it looks suspiciously like a non-tariff form of economic protectionism.
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We do have an extradition treaty with Germany, do we not?
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We do, but I imagine it’d be easier to fight in Germany rather than a third country.
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I can imagine that this will be the subject of some…rather tense…diplomatic discussion.
Team Germany has a great deal of flexibility in terms of ensuring that the overall scandal does the usual “serious people in positions of authority say that it was bad and wrong, and there are hearings and litigation and stuff; but surprisingly little every comes of it; and what does comes slowly”; but the (unpleasant; but abundantly true) fact that you can soft-pedal the process for someone who is obviously guilty as sin but above any real consequences for one reason or another does not make it any easier to manage a “No, actually he’s so innocent that we refuse to extradite him” if someone else is so tactless as to request extradition.
If the US does, in fact, request the honor of their presence in court, I’m hard pressed to imagine what plausible grounds they could give to refuse; but if they can convince the feds to not be so tacky as to ask, the matter can be buried.
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Not for German citizens.
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could you explain/cite?
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In Germany it used to be a civil right that citizens could not be extradited abroad. (Certainly no questionable motivations there in 1949!) Recently that has been softened regarding extraditions to international courts or within the EU, but it is still in force otherwise.
quote No German may be extradited to a foreign country. The law may provide otherwise for extraditions to a member state of the European Union or to an international court, provided that the rule of law is observed.
[/quote]
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I’ll get to tell my kids about the one time in history that white collar criminals got arrested.
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I’m sure they could find some place for them in Trump’s cabinet.
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This.
Lets see what happens to Chrysler now.
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I’d like to see a crime of “statistical homicide” be created (if it doesn’t already exist). These execs could then be charged with the murders they have committed through the pollution their illegal cars have produced. A strong statistical basis would be required for conviction, but no specific deathe would need to be linked.
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Two words: extraordinary rendition.
Come on Barack! you only have 6 days left. Now is not the time to buckle under to international norms of law and decency.
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Huh, Germany doesn’t have an extradition agreement with the US? That is a little surprising. One would think that would have been written in during the restructure after WWII. Or was it later removed, say with the reunification?
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They made the mistake of being crooked oligarchs while simulataneously not being American crooked oligarchs. A common mistake, anyone could make it really.
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There is, but neither side is required to extradite their own citizens.
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That surprises me though, as one would think extradition of former Nazis would be a given. Though maybe there is a clause for Nazis. Or maybe they don’t extradite them because they try them there.
ETA - doesn’t the EU have even more restrictive regs? Are they in trouble there too?
At any rate, George Carlin had a bit where if you wanted to dry up the drug trade, start imprisoning the bankers laundering the money. I see stuff like this as gross fraud and it should come with real world punishments.
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