The big surprise here is that it was not swept under the carpet, in good continental european way.
OAM
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Big brands are being linked to widespread corruption
Car manufacturers BMW, DaimlerChrysler and Volkswagen; the country's fourth-largest financial institution, Commerzbank; Europe's largest chip-producer, Infineon - five of Germany's leading firms, all members of its Dax-30 blue-chip index, have become embroiled in corruption scandals in recent months.
The revelations of kickbacks, money-laundering and paid-for sex have shocked a country that is already trying - and failing - to come to terms with its fall from grace as Europe's model economy and is mired in anxious depression. Not so much banana republic as backhander republic.
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