On the move

This week, we look at media comment on Germany’s decision to buy data stolen from Swiss banks, the victory of Viktor Yanukovych in Ukraine’s presidential election, and Toyota’s faulty cars.

A ticking clock

The Swiss have accused Germany of  fencing stolen goods after Angela Merkel agreed to buy customer records from Swiss bank employees. Germany’s attempt to find tax evaders is justified, writes the Financial Times.

… The German courts reject the Swiss charge of fencing. Were that not the case, Berlin would not be able to openly offer cash for data. But it is hard to get steamed up about this. It is surely legitimate to offer inducements for informers to testify. And it is in the public interest for tax cheats to be identified and forced to pay their dues. ...

Orange disappointment

The Guardian comments on the Ukrainian presidential election, won by Viktor Yanukovych, whose rigged election in 2004 caused mass protests in Kiev.

… [J]ust as the expectations western governments had of the peaceful uprising five years ago were too great, so too today would it be an overreaction to say that the orange movement has been squeezed dry. The mass protests against post-Soviet authoritarianism were a genuine cry for cleaner government. And the result today is that Ukraine is the only country in the post‑Soviet space to hold free elections. It also has media free from state control (but not from the oligarchs who now own them); there is today a strong civic society, and a ­strengthened, though still f­ragile, sense of national identity. ...

Damage control

The South African newspaper Business Day writes that Toyota should have come clean far earlier about the defects in its cars.

…[Toyota] recalled more than two million cars in the US as early as 2005. It received complaints about sticking accelerator pedals as early as 2008. But what Toyota failed to do was to come clean, on its own terms, about all the various faults. Which was why the news of the faults caused such panic and did such dramatic damage to Toyota’s reputation, even though the number of accidents, fortunately, has been few. Fast-growing companies should take note that safety is just as crucial as profit.. ...