Germany

Post-Nazi Business Crime

After the collapse of Nazi Germany, the Allies investigated business involvement in mass murder and even brought some industrialists to trial in Nuremberg. In the Soviet-occupied zone of Germany, the problem was tackled by expropriation of land and industry on a large scale. The Americans with the Financial Investigation Section of the Finance Division of the Office of Military Government did detailed reports into German banks and industries and their involvement in Nazi and war crimes (OMGUS reports). The Cold War ended those investigations.

During the West German Wirtschaftswunder (economic miracle) in the 1950s, once again business crime and scandal were overshadowed by rapid economic growth. The rearmament of Germany was an opportunity for many bribery affairs connected to nearly every major weapon system and building contract for the armed forces. Minister of Defense Franz Josef Strauss was associated in the public debate with many of these scandals, but actually never charged much less convicted.

German industry and factories contended with new aspects of business crime after reunification in 1990.

Weapon sales, in general, for nearly 50 years were a major source of business crime: In the 1950s the (West) German law had many loopholes in its weaponry export regulations, which were used by dealers for trafficking World War II surplus and more modern equipment. When West Germany engaged in a more controlled export regime, deals outside the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) hemisphere became legally difficult, especially to war-ravaged regions.

Nevertheless, illegal deals never ceased. German foreign policy came under pressure from its European and U.S. allies, especially after the discovery of production units for chemical weapons supplied by German firms in Rabta (Libya) in the 1980s (called “Auschwitz-in-the-sands” by American media), and for the remains of German-made weapon industry facilities in Iraq discovered after the 1991 war. Because the foreign policy impact became untenable, the control systems against illegal weapon deals were reorganized and better staffed during the 1990s. Nevertheless, on some occasions, the political pressure on the judiciary to play down certain scandals persisted.

...