Corruption in Germany: It’s far from over

Janine Schmitz/ photothek/ imago images

For years, experts have claimed that Germany’s stance in fighting corruption is far from solid – now, another political scandal underlines the dire need for better legislation on transparency and lobbying in the EU’s most populous Member State.

Philipp Amthor, the Bundestag second youngest member, has been heavily criticized for his activities as freelancing staff member of the US law firm White & Case as well as Augustus Intelligence, a US corporation developing AI and face recognition schemes.

According to a report published by Der Spiegel, Amthor received around 2800 equity options as renumeration for his activities at Augustus Intelligence; furthermore, he was appointed a member of the board of directors of the organization in May 2019. Additional perks of his contributions included regular business trips to New York, Corsica and St Moritz.

Additionally, Amthor used his position in the German Bundestag, which he holds since 2017, to actively lobby for Augustus Intelligence: In 2018, he addressed a letter to Minister of Economy Peter Altmaier, praising the firm’s efforts in AI development and asking for the government’s support of the company. Furthermore, Amthor had arranged for at least two face to face meetings between representatives of the company and high-ranking government officials.

While in the past, Amthor referred to his activities as “non-executive function that does not involve regular work”, he declared to distance himself from the company when details became known in June 2020, and called his prior involvement a “mistake”.

Criticism of Amthor’s activities echoed throughout all political camps, including his own, Merkel’s conservative CDU. The Green party took the occasion to underline the importance of introducing better legislation to cover all facets of undue political influence. Together with the socialist SPD, the party reopened the debate on introducing a lobbying register, a measure that has been established in most European democracies except Germany.

And they aren’t the only ones: According to a report published by the European Council Group of States Against Corruption (GRECO) in early June, Germany still largely fails to comply with the Group’s recommendations. Only last year, the German government had to take harsh criticism for not following up on promises made in the context of its GRECO membership.