Heard someone saying "What took so long?" in my office.

I pointed out that the Enron scandal events started in the 90s, started making news in 2001, and Skilling was sentenced in 2006.

The wheels of justice grind slowly.

There's a difference though - in the US those wheels never really grind, so, I was assuming nothing would ever come from this... Apparently Germany actually likes justice and laws though?

Jeffrey Skilling in fact served 12 years in federal prison. The wheels did grind eventually.

And how many people who have done worse have received similar punishments since?

Not sure what you are talking about, the US jailed a VW executive in 2017 already [1].

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/dec/06/oliver-schm...

The wheels of justice grind slowly, but mince very finely.

When people are Outraged(TM) and they want someone's (metaphorical) head on a platter Now(TM), not after going through all those boring technicalities that come with the outdated concept known as due process.

(in case it's not, the /s should be obvious)

The German government owns 25% of VW. It is reasonable to suggest they wouldn't want to do a real investigation and bring charges as doing so directly hurts their best interest. It is even reasonable to suggest that the immediate investigations would have been called off if the German government felt they could get away with it, but public pressure has forced this.

Of course reasonable doesn't mean it is the truth. I have no idea what the truth is, but the fears are reasonable.

> The German government owns 25% of VW.

That’s not quite correct. The shares are owned by the state of Niedersachsen, not the federal government. And they don’t own 25%. They own 11.8%, though they have 20% of the voting rights.

I stand corrected.

Sure, German prosecutors regularly get dissuaded from investigating a crime, because the government said so.

Oh, and public pressure just made the politicians stop. On the other hand public pressure can never stop copyright reform because politicians clearly don't care about the voters.

Maybe you should readjust your mental image of Germany.

Maybe you need to readjust your image of what happens. If it isn't for the vigilance of the people all of the above can happen. They happen in other countries. Corruption of those in powers is a constant in the world, Germany is doing okay now, but it just takes one blink and things can go bad - as they have in many other countries throughout history.

Yep, politics is the key contribution to our intellectual dark ages.

German prosecutors are not independent but have to follow the authority of the ministry of justice. So in principle, politicians can stop the prosecutors. They would rarely do so as that would be the bigger scandal in the end.

Analogous to Samsung’s relationship with SK and the feet dragging over reproductive health hazards that went unreported in certain photoresists banned in the west.