European Crime and Punishment, Middle Eastern Gas

Glenn Swanson
by Glenn Swanson

Reuters reports that a former Daimler finance manager was sentenced to serve five and a half years in jail for embezzling more than 22 million euros ($32.5m) from the German automaker over a five-year period. A Stuttgart court ruled the 42-year-old man had submitted fake invoices for computer services and forged supervisors' signatures to obtain up to 2 million euros ($2.95m) at a time. Across the border in France, a court has fined Volvo 200k euros (nearly $300k) after the driver of a Volvo 850 TDI lost control of her car, killing two children and injuring another. The driver claims the brake became very rigid and she could not stop in time. Volvo is expected to appeal the decision. Meanwhile in Israel, a venture group known as C.En, says it’s developed a safe, lightweight hydrogen tank for automobiles. "The tanks will be like a battery that can be replaced and you can carry a reserve in the car," says Moshe Stern, who leads the project’s investor group. Unlike other systems, this one uses hydrogen gas rather than liquid. “We are looking now for one of the giants to adopt our technology and support it," Stern says. Uh sorry, the Giants have more pressing plans at the moment.

Glenn Swanson
Glenn Swanson

Glenn is a baby-boomer, born in 1954. Along with his wife, he makes his home in Connecticut. Employed in the public sector as an Information Tedchnology Specialist, Glenn has long been a car fan. Past rides have included heavy iron such as a 1967 GTO, to a V8 T-Bird. In between those high-horsepower cars, he's owned a pair of BMW 320i's. Now, with a daily commute of 40 miles, his concession to MPG dictates the ownership of a 2006 Honda Civic coupe which, while fun to drive, is a modest car for a pistonhead. As an avid reader, Glenn enjoys TTAC, along with many other auto-realated sites, and the occasional good book. As an avid electronic junkie, Glenn holds an Advanced Class amateur ("ham") radio license, and is into many things electronic. From a satellite radio and portable GPS unit in the cars, to a modest home theater system and radio-intercom in his home, if it's run by the movement of electrons, he's interested. :-)

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  • Windswords Windswords on Feb 02, 2008

    22 million euros seem like a pittance compared to the billions Daimler extracted out of Chrysler.

  • ZoomZoom ZoomZoom on Feb 02, 2008

    I'm sorry, maybe I'm too tired to be reading analytically. But if you could spoon-feed me for a moment...what was the gist of the article?

  • Glenn Swanson Glenn Swanson on Feb 03, 2008

    ZoomZoom: ...spoon-feed me for a moment…what was the gist of the article? It's like a "buy one, get two free" sale. ;-) In Germany: A (former) Daimler finance manager was sentenced to jail for embezzling; In France, a court fined Volvo over brakes deemed "too rigid" prior to an accident; In Israel, a group has developed a new type of hydrogen-gas tank for autos. That's the gist of it.

  • Storminvormin Storminvormin on Feb 04, 2008

    The Volvo situation reminds me of the Audi 5000. Maybe people should just learn to drive properly.

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