This can't possibly be true. A company artificially inflates its stock price to sell itself off, the board members pocket million-euro severance packages for it, the stock price comes back down to earth, and the state — and thus all taxpayers — are supposed to foot the bill?
The whole Vodafone-Mannesmann deal is nothing but one big fraud anyway, and we get to clean up the mess. The very idea of such blatant corruption makes you pretty angry.
Tax justice in Germany has been gone for a long time. And this whole pile of garbage is the best proof of it. It can't be right that companies themselves still profit from this crap, while ordinary taxpayers are constantly hit with higher burdens because the money runs out.
If we're blowing billions up the backsides of companies for stupidity and audacity, it's no wonder money is lacking...