Good idea to catch tax evaders.

By sandra | February 2, 2010 8:07 AM

Thus governments are dealing in stolen data. I thought this was illegal, or is it only legal for state sanctioned thieves?

By JohnP | February 2, 2010 9:18 AM

Hoeray! the tax office is becoming a Robin Hood gang. Together with the Germans, they think they are "robbing from the rich and giving to the poor". Now, should they pay fellow outlaws Somali pirates to get similar information?

It is interesting to fight crime with crime. The politicians think that because they do it, it is not crime... while a journalist who exposed the flaws of Schiphol security gets a fine.

By Benito Camelas | February 2, 2010 10:48 AM

Sandra,

If you or I were to knowingly buy or handle stolen goods we would face jail time. If the Police were to use illegal actions to gain evidence there would be talk of prosecutions and the evidence would be thrown out of court.

Of course people should be paying their way in society and that means paying taxes. I am thoroughly behind the idea that we live in a society and those who lucky enough to earn more should pay more.

However simply saying that the government can get involved in illegal activities in order to enforce this is just wrong. After all where would you draw the line?

By Nick | February 2, 2010 11:15 AM

nothing good ever comes from government. this just proofs my point.
nothing has changed since the middle ages when the king would send his troops to the villages to extort money and food or force the people to give them their money and food.

By Paulina | February 2, 2010 11:36 AM

bit of a mixed bag this one. On the one hand, we all know that those with such secret accounts in Liechtenstein and Switzerland are tax-evaders and need to be chased up for the money they are taking from the domestic economy. However I feel a very dodge precedent is being set by the German government in openly handling in stolen information. The banks from whom the data was stolen may have a good claim for recompense here, since the loopholes that exist did so with the complicity of the EU and their member states.

However, before the Dutch government gets all holier-than-thou (oops, too late for that with CDA and CU) - how about they explore legal channels in which to claw back revenue legally avoided by corporations in the Netherlands. The CBS estimates that foreign corporations suck up to 4 billion euro per year out of the dutch economy by exploiting officially sanctioned tax-breaks.

Once more, it is the normal bloke and blokesse on the street that have to pay for this shortfall - and this going after individuals is another of Balkenende's stinking policy decisions.

By John | February 2, 2010 12:16 PM

Define stolen. Don't get caught up in the language used by a newspaper.

No doubt it is against the rules of the bank for an employee to steal data from the bank and sell it. But is it against the laws of the countries involved?

Many of you are saying this is illegal. In which countries? And which law does it break?

If you think governments don't/shouldn't pay individuals for information then you are being naive. Its called intelligence.

By Alan | February 2, 2010 1:07 PM

Alan,
the definition of stolen? Well the fact that a computer technician at the LGT bank sold private and secret information despite having signed a disclaimer when he started working for them. He's broken his contract and thus broken the law.

Secondly, the actions of the German intelligence agency in offering and paying the money to the whistle blower seem to be outside of their constitutional remit. So we have contractual law being breached, we have inter-european law being broken (bribery is illegal) and we have the big hot potato of an EU government possibly being guilty of co-ercing a foreign national into giving away state secrets!

so, off the top of my head, those are the laws that could have been broken. We shall see

By john | February 2, 2010 3:20 PM

Try to remember that every cent the tax dodgers avoid paying must be made up by the rest of us. Now I don't know about you lot, but I pay quite enough already and if this action reduces my tax burden, then good luck to them, however they got the data.

By Jamie Anderson | February 2, 2010 3:38 PM

Sheila is the term John.

By Jan | February 2, 2010 3:50 PM

Why are govt. officials punishing thieves if they are encouraging a thieve. Where are the Legal practitioners in our society? Are they going to overlook this action?

By Victor | February 2, 2010 5:06 PM

The German Government failed to do the deal without anyone noticing. Now they have the ethical responsibility to not buy the data. They should try to catch the guy who stole it and prosecute him for his crime. This guy is not doing anyone a favor but is only concerned to get money for himself no matter what. I don't want to see this guy rewarded as much as I don't want to see the tax dodgers to get away with that. But in the end I believe, morality should always count before greed. Maybe this is only a unnecessary fuss about something virtually unimportant...

By Hans | February 3, 2010 7:51 AM