4 ms·

What did her son have to do with anything? And quite frankly, even though the optics were probably not very good, I don't know of any corruption on the part of

What did her son have to do with anything? And quite frankly, even though the optics were probably not very good, I don't know of any corruption on the part of Ursula von der Leyen that was conclusively shown.

WanderPanda 6y ago
Yeah you don‘t know of any, because the evidence on her phone was „accidentally“ lost...
fxtentacle 6y ago
She hired the company where her son was working using taxpayer money. And then that company paid commission for it to her son. So she indirectly paid taxpayer money to her son.
- lippel82 6y ago
  Her son worked in the silicon valley office in a very junior position at the time. That's very far removed from the German public sector consulting. And where did you get that bit about commissions? I'm pretty sure that McKinsey doesn't pay any commissions whatsoever to junior consultants.
  - LargoLasskhyfv 6y ago
    It's called networking.
- jariel 6y ago
  This isn't remotely an example of corruption unless there is a direct conflict of interest. If she hired her son directly, or as part of the team, if he was lobbying her, then it's a problem. But if her son worked at IBM and she, as Defence Minister hired IBM for some defence contract, then it's irrelevant. Edit: I should be clear, among the elite, specifically if there are central groups which exist especially within EU nations, and also 'bubbles' in the US i.e. Valley, Hollywood, NY Finance etc. it's very common for 'big contracts' to go to so-and-so, and as a 'favour' the so-and-so takes on 'sufficiently credentialed son/daughter'. For example, if you're the top Defence bureaucrat and you hire 'Bain & Co.' to do a procurement analysis ... well ... you're son with a newly minted MBA might find it much easier to get hired there. While this kind of 'soft nepotism' is arguably problematic, it's also not so bad. It's when the 'wife, niece and grandson of the French President' have 'fully paid positions in the bureaucracy' for which they literally do nothing, or when the PM hires his college buddy's law firm for a $100M boondoggle that it gets worse.
  - alexott 6y ago
    Nobody was fired for buying IBM...
  - DoctorOetker 6y ago
    both your examples and the parent claim that commission went to the son sound like textbook corruption to me!
  - fakedang 6y ago
    Interestingly there was a similar case in Saudi Arabia a few years back, where McKinsey hired the sons of bureaucrats in Aramco and other government departments in exchange for all the lucrative consulting contracts. Goldman Sachs did the same with 1MDB and Libya and were caught. It's an open secret now that giving the kids the jobs is a foolproof route to getting contracts.
    - jariel 6y ago
      People are misunderstanding the nature of this stuff. This is not corruption, it's just favours. Nobody is awarding a major contract to get their kid an associate job at McKinsey. The contract is awarded to McKinsey, if the person holding the purse has someone looking to get into such a role, then it's a nice thing that McKinsey can do in return. My mother was a director of customer service and used to hire all of my friends in high school ... because they were my friends. It's normal. It's technically not very above bar, but it's not necessarily corrupt. Most people get jobs through their networks, this is 'kind of' that.
      - fakedang 6y ago
        Except McKinsey didn't hire them after getting the contracts, but before, which clearly positions it to get many contracts. A few years back, it was clear as day that most of the govt business went to McKinsey in the Middle East, while BCG and Bain often received scraps. Relevant article: https://www.wsj.com/articles/in-growing-saudi-business-mckinsey-hired-officials-children-1510254527 https://www.wsj.com/articles/in-growing-saudi-business-mckin...
- imtringued 6y ago
  That's not the problem. The problem is that if you are IBM or Microsoft you better hire Ursula's sons to get contracts. How much money her sons receive is irrelevant.

WanderPanda 6y ago

Yeah you don‘t know of any, because the evidence on her phone was „accidentally“ lost...

fxtentacle 6y ago

She hired the company where her son was working using taxpayer money. And then that company paid commission for it to her son. So she indirectly paid taxpayer money to her son.

lippel82 6y ago
Her son worked in the silicon valley office in a very junior position at the time. That's very far removed from the German public sector consulting. And where did you get that bit about commissions? I'm pretty sure that McKinsey doesn't pay any commissions whatsoever to junior consultants.
- LargoLasskhyfv 6y ago
  It's called networking.
jariel 6y ago
This isn't remotely an example of corruption unless there is a direct conflict of interest. If she hired her son directly, or as part of the team, if he was lobbying her, then it's a problem. But if her son worked at IBM and she, as Defence Minister hired IBM for some defence contract, then it's irrelevant. Edit: I should be clear, among the elite, specifically if there are central groups which exist especially within EU nations, and also 'bubbles' in the US i.e. Valley, Hollywood, NY Finance etc. it's very common for 'big contracts' to go to so-and-so, and as a 'favour' the so-and-so takes on 'sufficiently credentialed son/daughter'. For example, if you're the top Defence bureaucrat and you hire 'Bain & Co.' to do a procurement analysis ... well ... you're son with a newly minted MBA might find it much easier to get hired there. While this kind of 'soft nepotism' is arguably problematic, it's also not so bad. It's when the 'wife, niece and grandson of the French President' have 'fully paid positions in the bureaucracy' for which they literally do nothing, or when the PM hires his college buddy's law firm for a $100M boondoggle that it gets worse.
- alexott 6y ago
  Nobody was fired for buying IBM...
- DoctorOetker 6y ago
  both your examples and the parent claim that commission went to the son sound like textbook corruption to me!
- fakedang 6y ago
  Interestingly there was a similar case in Saudi Arabia a few years back, where McKinsey hired the sons of bureaucrats in Aramco and other government departments in exchange for all the lucrative consulting contracts. Goldman Sachs did the same with 1MDB and Libya and were caught. It's an open secret now that giving the kids the jobs is a foolproof route to getting contracts.
  - jariel 6y ago
    People are misunderstanding the nature of this stuff. This is not corruption, it's just favours. Nobody is awarding a major contract to get their kid an associate job at McKinsey. The contract is awarded to McKinsey, if the person holding the purse has someone looking to get into such a role, then it's a nice thing that McKinsey can do in return. My mother was a director of customer service and used to hire all of my friends in high school ... because they were my friends. It's normal. It's technically not very above bar, but it's not necessarily corrupt. Most people get jobs through their networks, this is 'kind of' that.
    - fakedang 6y ago
      Except McKinsey didn't hire them after getting the contracts, but before, which clearly positions it to get many contracts. A few years back, it was clear as day that most of the govt business went to McKinsey in the Middle East, while BCG and Bain often received scraps. Relevant article: https://www.wsj.com/articles/in-growing-saudi-business-mckinsey-hired-officials-children-1510254527 https://www.wsj.com/articles/in-growing-saudi-business-mckin...
imtringued 6y ago
That's not the problem. The problem is that if you are IBM or Microsoft you better hire Ursula's sons to get contracts. How much money her sons receive is irrelevant.