Eile mit Weile.
Germany angered at last-minute loss in Lehman crash
Sep 17, 2008, 8:55 GMT Reports that Germany's federal-government bank KfW handed over 300 million euros (420 million dollars) to Lehman Brothers only hours before the US investment bank failed, a newspaper said Wednesday.
The Frankfurt Allgemeine Zeitung said KfW passed the money to Lehman as part of a swap arrangement on Monday, the day the US firm declared insolvency. The impending collapse had been world news since the previous day.
The Finance Ministry in Berlin, which controls KfW, said there would be an inquiry to find who was to blame. KfW's in-house auditors would study how it was possible for the payment to have been released.
KfW conceded that it had an exposure of hundreds of millions of euros from the insolvency after the 'improperly released payment,' according to the newspaper. KfW was set up as a reconstruction bank and handles most federal-government investments.
"The problem with movies and books is they make evil look glamorous, exciting, when it's no such thing. It's boring and it's depressing and it's stupid. Criminals are all after cheap thrills and easy money, and when they get them, all they want is more of the same, over and over. They're shallow, empty, boring people who couldn't give you five minutes of interesting conversation. Maybe some can be monkey-clever, some of the time, but they aren't hardly ever smart."
Dean Koontz