German authorities have moved to shut down a bizarre prank played
by the far-right Reichsbürger to threaten German officials, Deutsche Welle
reported. The scam involves registering a "fine" in the US and then
on Malta.
The German government has struck a deal with Malta to end
the so-called "Malta scam" that has been exploited by the far-right
"Reichsbürger" movement to harass German judges and court workers.
According to a letter from the German Foreign Ministry to
all 16 state justice ministries (and leaked to the "Süddeutsche
Zeitung" newspaper and public broadcasters NDR and WDR), all attempts by
Reichsbürger to abuse a loophole in the Maltese payment demand procedure are to
be reported to the Foreign Ministry.
The ministry said it would then pass them on to the Maltese
state prosecutor with a "reminder" that Malta has promised to
prosecute all such cases of attempted fraud. The German government is believed
to have increased pressure on Malta in recent months over the scam.
"It's good that Malta now wants to take more forceful
action against the more than shameless activities of the Reichsbürger,"
Sven Rebehn, director of the German Association of Judges (DRB), told DW in an
emailed statement. "The judiciary of a country can't allow German judges
and judiciary employees to be bullied with imaginary demands from Malta."
No comments:
Post a Comment