"The whole world is a village" is a very common saying in Italy, which is similar to the German saying "Hier wird auch nur mit Wasser gekocht". The following message is intended to comfort all those Italian colleagues who see Germany as the model country for law and order.

The senior public prosecutor in Frankfurt, who was responsible in Hesse for fighting corruption in the health system, had regularly supplied expert opinions to the company of a school friend, which were then anything but perfect, and with which accused doctors or hospital owners were put under pressure. In return, the public prosecutor received up to €4000 per month from the school friend, which he regularly withdrew in instalments of €300-400 using an EC card. He was discovered through an anonymous ad which, according to information from "Bild" and "Handelsblatt", came from his abandoned girlfriend, who was no longer allowed to participate in the higher standard of living. In this context we refer to our article in the last Newsletter (no.48) about the considerable difference in remuneration between Italian and German public prosecutors. Italian prosecutors earn about twice as much as their German colleagues.