Series index:

1. The EPO Bundestagate -- Part 1: How the Bundestag Was (and Continues to be) Misled About EPO Affairs
2. The EPO Bundestagate -- Part 2: Lack of Parliamentary Oversight, Many Questions and Few Answers…
3. The EPO Bundestagate -- Part 3: A “Minor Interpellation” in the German Bundestag
4. The EPO Bundestagate -- Part 4: Parroting the GDPR-Compliance Myth
5. The EPO Bundestagate -- Part 5: The Federal Eagle's Disconcerting Metamorphosis
6. EPOLeaks on Misleading the Bundestag -- Part 6: Dr Petri Starts the Ball Rolling…
7. EPOLeaks on Misleading the Bundestag -- Part 7: Ms Voßhoff Alerts the Bundestag…
8. EPOLeaks on Misleading the Bundestag -- Part 8: The EPO's Tweedledum, Raimund Lutz
9. EPOLeaks on Misleading the Bundestag -- Part 9: A Veritable Virtuoso of Legal Sophistry
10. EPOLeaks on Misleading the Bundestag -- Part 10: A Faithful Lapdog Despised and Reviled by EPO Staff
11. EPOLeaks on Misleading the Bundestag — Appendix (Benoît Battistelli's Vichy Syndrome): Georges Henri Léon Battistelli and Charles Robert Battistelli
12. EPOLeaks on Misleading the Bundestag -- Part 11: The BMJV's Tweedledee: Dr Christoph Ernst
13. EPOLeaks on Misleading the Bundestag -- Part 12: A Worthy Successor to His Mentor?
14. EPOLeaks on Misleading the Bundestag -- Part 13: The Failed Promise of a “Good Governance” Guru…
15. EPOLeaks on Misleading the Bundestag -- Part 14: The Notorious Revolving Door
16. EPOLeaks on Misleading the Bundestag -- Part 15: Different Strokes for Different Folks
17. EPOLeaks on Misleading the Bundestag -- Part 16: An Inimitable Duo
18. EPOLeaks on Misleading the Bundestag -- Part 17: Jawohl, Herr Minister!
19. EPOLeaks on Misleading the Bundestag -- Part 18: Zero Tolerance for “Lawless Zones”?
20. You are here ☞ The Deafening Silence of the Media

Heiko Maas was undoubtedly grateful for the easy ride which the German media gave him in relation to EPO affairs.

Summary: "There has been speculation that Maas might have had his own political interest in protecting Battistelli and the Balkan Express because of certain allegations about financial irregularities involving the German Patents and Trademark Office (DPMA) which were doing the rounds at the time."

Techrights has frequently commented on a "strange conspiracy of silence" and a "blackout" in the German media when it comes to coverage of EPO affairs.

The "presstitutes" responsible for this state of affairs have regularly been taken to task for their moral cowardice (see here, here and here).

The de facto German "media blackout" in relation to EPO affairs greatly assisted the Justice Minister, Heiko Maas, in his efforts to "duck away" from his responsibility to tackle the "lawless zone" of the EPO.

"The de facto German "media blackout" in relation to EPO affairs greatly assisted the Justice Minister, Heiko Maas, in his efforts to "duck away" from his responsibility to tackle the "lawless zone" of the EPO."There has been speculation that Maas might have had his own political interest in protecting Battistelli and the Balkan Express because of certain allegations about financial irregularities involving the German Patents and Trademark Office (DPMA) which were doing the rounds at the time.

These allegations which were originally published in the Croatian press in March 2012 [PDF] concerned a transfer of funds from the DPMA to the Croatian State Intellectual Property Office (DZIV) in Zagreb during the time when Željko Topić was in charge there.

These funds were intended as part of a programme of international cooperation to assist with the consolidation of documentation and automation at the DZIV.

However, according to the published allegations the funds ended up in the private bank account of the DZIV's Director-General, Željko Topić.

In response to queries from German journalists, the DPMA denied that any transfer of funds to Croatia ever took place. However, this denial may not be entirely credible given that the official website of the DPMA mentions that there have been a number of official cooperation programs between the German DPMA and the Croatian DZIV in the past.

The unresolved question here is whether these cooperation programs involved the transfer of funds to Croatia and, if so, what exactly happened to that money.

Bearing in mind the stories that have circulated about Lufthansa's activities in Croatia, it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that "sweeteners" were paid from Germany to keep people in Croatia "on the right side".

If any evidence had emerged to support the allegations that financial irregularities involving the DPMA had taken place, it could have opened up a highly unpleasant can of worms for Heiko Maas because the DPMA comes under the remit of the Justice Ministry.

We may safely conclude that the Justice Minister was very grateful for the easy ride which he was given by the German media in relation to EPO affairs.

In April 2008 Ernst shared a platform with German journalist and author Udo Ulfkotte.

One interesting coincidence which emerged during the research for the present series was the fact that back in April 2008 [PDF] the self-styled "good governance" guru Christoph Ernst shared a platform with the maverick German journalist and author, the late Dr Udo Ulfkotte at a management conference in Wiesbaden.

Udo Ulfkotte exposed the systematic corruption of the German media in his book "Gekaufte Journalisten" (2014).

Some time later in 2014, Ulfkotte who had previously worked as a journalist for the leading liberal-conservative German daily the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung published a book entitled "Gekaufte Journalisten" (Bought Journalists: How Politicians, Intelligence Agencies and High Finance Control Germany’s Mass Media).

In this book, Ulfkotte revealed how the CIA and other secret services pay money to German journalists to report stories in a certain light. This is part of a larger pattern of media corruption which he describes. An English version of the book was subsequently published under the title "Presstitutes Embedded in the Pay of the CIA: A Confession from the Profession".

In his later years, Ulfkotte became an increasingly marginalised figure in Germany, largely due to his associations with anti-immigration groups like Pegida. He died on 13 January 2017 at the age of 56, allegedly from a heart attack. Publications have appeared suggesting that he may have been murdered but there is no conclusive proof of this.

We don't know whether Ernst and Ulfkotte rubbed shoulders at that management conference in Wiesbaden in April 2008 and, if so, what they might have said to one another on that occasion.

But whether or not Ernst ever discussed the topic of "bought journalists" with Udo Ulfkotte, it can be safely assumed that this wily old fox from the Federal Ministry of Justice is fully aware of the fact that he can rely on the mainstream media in his home country to keep a discreet silence about the rogue international organisation whose headquarters is located on the banks of the Isar in Munich. ⬆