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SPD’s Tauss steps down after child porn probe

Social Democratic (SPD) parliamentarian Jörg Tauss said Friday he would step down from his leadership positions after his offices were searched in a child pornography investigation.

Published: 6 March 2009 11:43 CET

SPD's Tauss steps down after child porn probe

Photo: DPA

The 55-year-old said in a statement that he would give up his roles as the centre-left SPD’s parliamentary expert on research and education, his spot among the party’s parliamentary group leadership and his position as SPD general secretary for the state of Baden-Württemberg. However, he intends to remain an MP.

Tauss said he did not want to damage his party and was “absolutely sure” that he would be quickly cleared of suspicion, saying he would make “a serious effort to support and cooperate” with investigators.

The Karlsruhe state prosecutor’s office said “relevant” child pornography material had been found on Tauss’ computer in his Berlin apartment on Thursday, adding that the politician would have to provide an explanation. The searches do not mean Tauss will be charged with any wrongdoing, the spokesperson emphasised.

Tauss has been in parliament since 1994. He told the media on Thursday that he’d been involved in fighting the child pornography scene for years, adding that he couldn’t be sure if the searches were part of a “plot for revenge.”

German police swoop on gang of foreign dating scammers

The Black Axe gang was involved internationally in “multiple areas of criminal activity”, with a focus in Germany on romance scams and money-laundering, Bavarian police said in a statement.

The dating trick was a “modern form of marriage fraud”, police said.

“Using false identities, the fraudsters for example signalled their intention to marry and in the course of further contact repeatedly demand money under various pretexts,” police said.

The money was subsequently transferred to Black Axe in Nigeria “via financial agents”, authorities said.

In the process, the gang used a “commodity-based money laundering” scheme where products, often with a seeming “charitable purpose” were bought and delivered to Nigeria.

Some 450 cases of romance scamming had been reported in the region of Bavaria in 2023 alone, with the damages rising to 5.3 million euros ($5.7 million), police said.

The suspects, who all held Nigerian citizenship and were aged between 29 and 53, were arrested in nationwide raids on Tuesday.

Law enforcement swooped on 19 properties, including both homes and asylum shelters, police said.

The Black Axe gang had “strict hierarchical structures under leadership in Nigeria” operating different territorial units, police said.

The group had a “significant influence” on politics and public administrations, in particular in Nigeria.

Globally, the gang’s main areas of operation were “human-trafficking, fraud, money-laundering, prostitution and drug-trafficking”.

Black Axe operated under the cover of the Neo Black Movement of Africa, an ostensibly charitable organisation used as “camouflage” for the gang’s structures.

The action against Black Axe was the first of its kind in Germany, police said.

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