WATER ABLAZE - Patagonia Sin Represas

who, as early as 1903, developed this form of bribery, which they
brought to perfection by giving mayors seats on the company’s advisory
boards, thus making them compliant with corporate demands
Today it has become the most natural thing in the world of politics
for mandate-holders to “have” one or more extra jobs – “carry out”
would be the wrong term here. This makes them servants to many
masters: as advisors or board members, they are inextricably caught up
in certain company interests while, at the same time, they are supposed
to be representing the interests of the public in their role as elected
members of parliament. And yet they seem to cope amazingly well
with this schizophrenic state of affairs.
Sections 331 to 335 of the German penal code prohibit bribery, as
well as the granting or accepting of undue privileges. In legal terms,
however, it is not considered to be corruption if a politician states that
he has carried out a service in return for the payments made to him
– for example, within the framework of a consultancy contract, or as a
member of an advisory council or supervisory board. Other countries
probably suffer from similar legal deficiencies.
We should not allow this grave inconsistency in legal reasoning
to blur our own vision: these practices bear all the hallmarks of
corruption and can seriously harm public welfare in various ways.
The “multifunctional” politician is paid by several interested parties
concurrently and must inevitably, sooner or later, commit a betrayal
of interests.
Among those politicians who embody this principle we find
Werner Müller, who was Minister for Economics in the Red-Green
government from 1998 to 2002. Müller is no stranger to the energy
sector. From 1973 until 1997, he worked for companies such as RWE,
Veba and Kraftwerke Ruhr AG and is currently chairman of the board
of directors at Ruhrkohle AG (RAG). He made the headlines when he
refused to accept the monopolies commission’s ban on the takeover of
Ruhrgas AG by E.ON. Instead, he instructed his permanent secretary
Alfred Tacke – meanwhile chairman of the board at the energy supplier
STEAG – to give the fusion the green light, by granting ministerial
permission under section 42 of the German Antitrust Act.
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