ZOCKEN IN SALZBURG

When you think of Salzburg, Austria, you think of Mozart, 
Music Festivals, breathtaking Countryside,
"The Sound of Music" and many other things of Beauty.

Soon you may also think of "Zocken".. pronounced 'Tsocken'.....

Tsocken? you may ask.... yes: 'Zocken'...  a word in the German language which means, among other meanings:

                      "Trading in high risk Investments"

A high ranking female Civil Servant, who was almost singularly in charge of the Province's financial affairs, and in an effort, I have no doubt, to make some money for her employer,  the Province, started to place Tax-Euros in some high risk investments. Her first effort happened some 11 years ago. These gambles, unfortunately did not pay off. In fact, the original investments quickly showed losses, which prompted the good lady, to put some more Tax-Euros in some even riskier markets. She bet on the Mexican Peso, and Islandic Kronen. NO, she did not purchase Swiss Franks, or Japanese Yen, to re-sell them when these currencies fluctuate positively in relation to the Euro. She engaged in very complicated high risk transactions, with some inherently weak currencies, hoping that things would turn around, and she would eliminate the losses and show hefty profits. 

She talked such a good talk, that large companies, including Germany's largest Bank, the Deutsche Bank, wooed her and tried to have her join their ranks. Fortunately for them, she turned down all such offers, and without a break, (she is said never to have taken vacations ) stuck to her office.

Several times the "Rechnungshof'', the Auditor General, ran routine checks and found nothing wrong. One wonders where they looked. 

One financial expert claimed that the reason why nothing inappropriate was ever found was, that according to Austrian Law when, for instance, a share is purchased for 1000, it always shows on the book as 1000, irrespective of the fact, that these shares may  now be worth 500, or in fact 1500.
In other words: The Government Auditors checked the Purchase Value against the physical presence of the share and never questioned if the 'Book Value' differed from the 'Market Value'...
This sounds like an absolutely unbelievable claim.

The LOSS, when the Market Value of today is compared to the Book Value amounts to a cool

                                   340 Million Euros

The question is easy, the answer very difficult: When confronted with such a situation do you excercise patience, sit still, do nothing and wait until the Market Value rises to reduce the difference (Loss)...
 but what happens if the Market Value falls further, thereby increasing the Loss ?
or do you simply sell the assets and cut your losses, fire everybody connected with this issue, including her boss, because she had a boss, and start from scratch.

Either way, it would be prudent to make it illigal for any Civil Servant and/or Politician to gamble with Taxpayers money.

The only reason why this lady will probably face a jail term is not because she 'zocked' with Taxpayers money, but because she allegedly forged documents and signatures to hide the disasterous state of affairs.

There are opinions that this case is but the tip of the iceberg and that other Provinces and Municipalities are in similar positions. Therefore one must ask: What is the real deficit of the country as a whole??

This is a truly bad deal
as Bertstravels sees it.

source documents: "Der Kurier";  Kleine Zeitung"