Yes, Minister Bandion-Ortner

There used to be a British comedy show called „Yes, Minister“ featuring a well meaning but naive Minister called Jim Hacker and his scheming Permament Secretary Sir Humphrey Appleby.

The smooth-talking and wiley Sir Humphrey always had the final say about policies but he also always managed to give Jim Hacker the impression by various manipulative tricks that he had actually made the decision, thereby allowing Hacker the illusion of power and control. “Yes, Minister,” Sir H would cynically say whenever he got what he wanted.

Perhaps Austrian Justice Minister Dr Claudia Bandion Ortner should take time off from her strenuous schedule of trying to explain the many justice scandals overwhelming the Alpine Republic to look at a few episodes of this very entertaining and, alas, all too realistic comedy show.

Dr Bandion-Ortner has declared she can not understand why judges and prosecutors were up in arms about her prposal to have new special centres to tackle large-scale financial crime set up in Vienna, Linz, Graz and Innsbruck. According to the ORF, she expressed puzzlement that the justice officials did not want „help“ in solving gigantic financial fraud cases, noting they were always complaining of overwork and the inevitable errors that come with such „overwork.“

http://kaernten.orf.at/stories/473173/

Austrian journalists targetted by German prosecutors could face trial in absentia

Austrian journalists who reported on the Hypo Alpe Adria bank scandal could be put on trial in absentia in Munich, Germany, in spite of the fact that they did not violate any laws in Austria, law expert Maria Windhager has said.

http://www.wienerzeitung.at/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID=3956&Alias=wzo&cob=519456

Five journalists from Austria are being charged by Munich state prosecutors for quoting directly from court files, something that is allowed in Austria but that is prohbitied in Germany.

The journalists were summoned for illegal interrogations by Austrian state prosecutors following  a request from their Munich counterparts but a public outcry forced the the process to be stopped and the Justice Minister Dr Claudia Bandion-Ortner to admit “a mistake” had occurred.

It is not clear if the Munich prosecutor will pursue the charges and put the Austrian journalists on trial in abenstia in Germany, or what the consequences will be. Any such trial could result in the arrest of the journalists in Austria or in a ban  from their entering Germany, Windhager indicated.

Nepotistic Austrian justice system comes under scrutiny in media scandal

Two sisters were involved in pushing through a controversial court order to seize material from the state-run TV station, the ORF , it has emerged.

http://kurier.at/kultur/2037251.php

The involvement of two family members working in leading positions in the legal system on the same case violates Austrian laws put in place to guarantee judicial independence.

The General Procurator today announced a review.

It is not clear why the involvement of the two sisters — Upper State Prosecutoir Ilse-Maria Vrabl-Sanda and Upper Court Judge Michaela Sanda — is only now being scrutinised.

Ilse-Maria Vrabl-Sanda also appears to have rubber stamped the promotion of state prosecutor Heike-Karin Heckl on September 1st after she summoned journalists for interrogation „as guilty parties“ for reporting on the Hypo Alpe Adria case even though they had not broken any laws in Austria.

Irish anger at bank fraud grows: petition to support truck driver circulates

A man who blocked the entrance to the Irish parliament with a cement truck in protest of the robbery of the Irish taxpayer by the banks under the pretext of an engineered liquidity crisis has become an unlikely hero and a petition is circulating in his support:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/support-toxic-bank-anglo-driver-for-expressing-how-the-irish-people-feel/

`Toxic bank’ cement truck blocks Irish parliament

By SHAWN POGATCHNIK (AP) – 1 day ago

DUBLIN — A cement truck plastered with anti-bank slogans blocked the entrance to the Irish parliament Wednesday as tensions mounted over the country’s debt crisis and enormous bank bailouts.

At least one police guard narrowly escaped being hit as the truck drove up to Leinster House about 7:15 a.m., one lawmaker said. The truck stopped as it touched the entrance’s ornate wrought-iron gates but caused no significant damage.

Police arrested the 41-year-old driver, who climbed out of the truck cabin’s skylight. The doors of the cement truck — which has been used before in anti-government demonstrations — were welded shut and its windows covered in metal grills to prevent police from gaining access.

David Icke talks about the economic crisis

Check out this David Icke interview on the economic crisis:

http://vodpod.com/watch/3217503-interview-with-david-icke-on-the-economic-agenda

And Ray Songtree’s  upcoming talk Oct 10 NYC
http://newyork.backpage.com/Classes/why-the-truth-movement-will-succeed-oct-10-2-5pm-integral-yoga-institute/17001049

Iceland decision spotlights SFO inquiry in UK

Thursday, Sep 30 2010

COMMENT by ALEX BRUMMER: Iceland casts a dark shadow

By Alex Brummer
Last updated at 10:59 PM on 29th September 2010

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/article-1316304/COMMENT-ALEX-BRUMMER-Iceland-casts-dark-shadow.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

The decision by the Icelandic parliament to refer former Prime minister Geir Haarde to a special court for failing to prevent the 2008 financial crash – which brought the country’s banks tumbling down like ninepins – is of more than historic interest.

The failure of the Icelandic banks – Glitnir, Kaupthing and Landsbanki – reached deep into our own financial system.

Kaupthing in particular is of interest to Britain. The bank is known to have had close relationships with several of the UK’s best known financiers including serial entrepreneur Robert Tchenguiz and Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley.

Rumania is bankrupt, robbed says Ilie Serbanescu

Act Media – 24.09.2010

he economic situation of Romania is due to the international crisis only 20%, the Romanian state reaching bankruptcy , said the economic analyst Ilie Serbanescu during the Coface Romania. “ Out of the whole situation of the country, 20% is due to the crisis. It is a political matter. There is no perspective. If we come back to what we had, the situation is harder than that. The international crisis emphasized what Romania had to pay. The damage cannot be recovered.

We have 90 billion euro debts. 60-70 billion euro is not ours, but belong to the companies which came to Romania. They financed their extension with money from the parent companies. When they had to pay, the Romanian state had to take loans of 20 billion euro to bring money on the market for each foreigner and especially for banks. The Romania state is finished, it is bankrupt. The whole attempt of IMF to blame the state for something the state didn’t do. It was robbed” Serbanescu said.

Europe’s austerity anger grows

More than 100,000 marchers converged on Brussels from across the EU to protest austerity measures on Wednesday, while Spanish unions took the extraordinary step of breaking ranks with Spain’s socialist government by launching a general strike.

 By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
Published: 9:52PM BST 29 Sep 2010

The Telegraph

“Workers are on the streets today with a clear message to Europe’s leaders,” said John Monks, head of the European Trade Union Confederation. “There is a great danger that workers are going to pay the price for the reckless speculation that took place in financial markets. You have to reschedule these debts so that they are not a huge burden and cause Europe to plunge down into recession,” he said, reflecting growing bitterness among ordinary people that they are bearing the brunt of austerity while bondholders have been shielded from losses.

Spain’s car industry was entirely paralysed with the exception of the Mercedes plant in Vitoria, and transport stoppages caused severe disruption. Ignacio Fernandez Toxo, head of the country’s CCOO trade union, said premier Jose Luis Zapatero was committing “political suicide” by carrying out harsh cuts while unemployment hovers at 20pc, or 41pc for youths.

END OF PRESS FREEDOM IN EUROPE? Austrian media scandal has dire implications for journalists in all Europe

The illegal interrogation of investigative journalists in Austria on the basis of orders from German state prosecutors could herald the start of a new international media censorship apparatus if not checked, Engelbert Washietl has warned.

Munich state prosecutors sent a request to Vienna prosecutors this August  to summon Austrian  journalists reporting on  the Hypo Alpe Adria bank scandal for an interrogation by the local police as a first step to charging them for actions that are crimes in Germany but not in Austria.

Journalists from Austria’s news magazine Profil were summoned to a police station on September 10th and 15th and interrogated about their financial affairs. They were labelled as “guilty parties” in the legal action, and  they may even have ended up being charged although they had broken no laws in Austria. A public outcry forced the justice officials to admit their mistake.

Altogether five journalists were summoned for such interrogations in Austria because they quoted directly from court files on the Hypo Alpe Adria affair, which is allowed in Austria, but not in Germany.

“What is being attempted here is the setting up of a supranational structure to gag the media when these are working on supranational scandals,” said Engelbert Washietl in a newspaper comment.

Journalists from “Wirtschaftsblatt” also summoned to illegal interrogations: investigative journalism being “criminalised”, says editor

The state prosecutors in Munich made an illegal request to interrogate two investigative journalists working for the financial newspaper “Wirtschaftsblatt”, it has emerged.

German state prosecutors requested Austrian prosecutors to summon a total of five journalists investigating the Hypo Alpe Adria bank scandal for an interrogation as a first step to charging them for actions that are crimes in Germany but not in Austria.

The journalists quoted directly from court file, which is allowed in Austria, but not in Germany.

Wirtschaftsblatt Journalists Günter Fritz and Kid Möchel were targeted by the Munich state prosecutor for interrogations concerning their reports on the Hypo Alpe Adria scandal.  But Vienna state prosecutors have now said that they will not summon the journalists following a public outcry last week over the illegal interrogations of journalists from Profil and News.