Germany: vice ring scandal

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

For over a year now I've tried to monitor the forces at work in Germany,
gunning for the welfare state and now Gerhard Schröder himself. Despite
Schröder's backtracking with respect to his opposition to the invasion of
Iraq, his promise to "reform" the welfare state in accordance with
neoliberal pressures, and his failure to capitalise on the potential for a
progressive nationalist alliance encompassing the trade unions and the
Mittelstand against domestic finance capital, monopoly productive capital
and US state and capital, he carries no support among those forces he is
trying to appease. The extravagant reception given to opposition leader
Angela Merkel during her visit to Washington earlier this year was in stark
contrast to the shunning of Schröder, Fischer and Struck by various members
of the US administration. Whatever thaw Powell may be trying to engineer in
transatlantic relations, regime change in Germany remains high on the US
political agenda, and, as with Britain in the 1970s, there is a well-placed
section of German state and capital ready to collaborate in such a venture.
Hence the emergence of this story, which reads like a classic
destabilisation effort, conveniently timed to capitalise on a politically
very weak government. Any further information on this would be very
gratefully received, especially from those best placed to offer it -- i.e.,
resident in Germany.

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German MPs caught in vice ring scandal
Politicians used public money to dial foreign prostitutes, writes WILLIAM
AHLEN
The Herald, 27 June 2003

GERMAN MPs are in a panic after the arrest of a call-girl ring led to an
investigation of Bundestag telephone accounts that showed many politicians
dialled for sex with taxpayers' money.

Yesterday, the scandal took a new twist when one MP in Gerhard Schroeder's
ruling Social Democrat party admitted he had been targeted for blackmail -
even though he insisted he was not one of the 40-odd MPs who used the
working girls' services.

Now cabinet ministers themselves are in the sights of investigators as
rumours swirl that they too have dallied with the girls.

The affair has the potential to destroy a lot of careers as police
investigations continue amid speculation they will expand their inquiry to
drug-taking in the Reichstag. A TV programme last year revealed how a
scientific sweep of MP toilets revealed large traces of cocaine residue in
several cubicles.

Expenses are also being examined to see if suspect politicians really did
entertain guests legitimately - or used the cash for the services of the
prostitutes from Poland, Ukraine and the Czech Republic.

Germany's top-selling newspaper Bild said yesterday: "Who are actually on
the list? This ominous call-girl scandal has the whole Bundestag in fear."

A million men a day visit prostitutes in Germany, so the odds always were on
politicians being part of that statistic. But those same lawmakers caught up
in the police inquiry are the ones trying to keep illegal prostitute rings
out of Germany and promising to clean up the vice trade with proper health
and insurance care for homegrown brothel workers.

The unnamed SPD politician who said he was the target of a blackmail attempt
by a Ukrainian prostitute informed his party whips immediately. What party
chiefs fear, however, is the guilty ones owning up in an attempt to keep
their families together.

All the prostitutes caught in the ring are illegal, according to police. As
detectives worked back through the phone records of their pimps, they
discovered many calls were made from MPs' Reichstag phones or from their
mobile telephones.

The prosecutor's office in Berlin has confirmed that at least 40 MP numbers
are on the list. Some who are not on it are pleading for clarity from the
prosecutor and police. "They are under a great deal of pressure, innuendo,
and rumours," said Wilhelm Schmidt, SPD parliamentary faction leader.

The phone records list time, date, and duration of calls. Rumours say that
at least two ministers in the government are involved, although no newspaper
or magazine has been brave enough to print them.

One prominent journalist said: "This is a ticking time- bomb for parliament
in general and the Schroeder cabinet in particular. The names of two
prominent cabinet members are already wellknown in the Berlin village as
tart's customers. This has the potential to torpedo Schroeder as a credible
leader."