Schröder adviser resigns from VW in sex scandal

[emad]

Luke Harding in Berlin
Saturday July 9, 2005
The Guardian

Germany's embattled chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, suffered a major embarrassment yesterday when the architect of his controversial reform programme became the latest victim of a sex and corruption scandal.

Peter Hartz, the head of personnel at Volkswagen, Germany's biggest car manufacturer, quit yesterday after being accused of allowing top VW union leaders to take luxury trips abroad and spend up to €30,000 (£20,600) of company money on prostitutes.

One of Germany's most respected newspapers, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, alleged that a lap dancer from Lisbon was flown at company expense to the Georges V hotel in Paris to entertain two VW board members. In return, the union representatives who served on VW's workers' council allegedly agreed to nod through controversial decisions made by VW's management.

Under Germany's consensual industrial model, known as Mitbestimmung, executives are obliged to share power with their workforce.
VW's chief executive, Bernd Pischetsrieder, said Dr Hartz had resigned "with the intention of preventing harm coming to the company".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/germany/article/0,2763,1524805,00.html

[tammywammy]

1. Thanks for posting this

I work at a VW dealership, so it has been passed around.

It's really not the prostitution that's a big deal, it's the alleged six front companies to launder money.

tammywammy