Chapter 442 Who is darker?

"Gentlemen, what would you like to drink?" Heidi asked. "I understand you prefer champagne. Although we have champagne on the plane, I recommend you try our German Henkell sparkling wine. What do you think?"

Xiao Peng nodded and said, "Of course. Heidi, I have a question."

"Excuse me." Heidi took out a bottle of wine and put it in an ice glass to chill it.

Xiao Peng said, "Walter said that Mr. Friedrich was his former superior, who later left the army to enter politics. Am I right?"

Heidi nodded: "Yes, Mr. Friedrich is very grateful to Walter for helping to introduce Mr. Xiao."

Xiao Peng then asked, "Walter spoke highly of Mr. Friedrich, saying he was 'honest in his official duties.' So the question is: where did he get the money to own a Falcon 2000 business jet? Even if he was born into aristocracy, he couldn't have inherited so much wealth, right?"

Xiao Peng's question was both rude and direct, but Heidi didn't get angry. Instead, she smiled and replied, "Mr. Friedrich has retired from politics. He's currently a senior executive at Hansenburg Pharmaceuticals. As Germany's top multinational pharmaceutical manufacturer, Hansenburg Pharmaceuticals produces drugs like 'Sativix,' 'Nabilone,' and 'Epidiolux,' which dominate the vast majority of our country's medicinal material market. Friedrich owns a considerable portion of Hansenburg Pharmaceuticals' shares, and he frequently gives speeches... In short, Mr. Friedrich's wealth is not a problem. Mr. Xiao, you may not understand us in the West. We strictly manage civil servants, and the consequences of bribery are severe."

Xiao Peng suddenly laughed after hearing this and turned to ask, "Fabian, Mr. Friedrich's experience is almost the same as Mayor Godin's!"

Fabian shook his head: "Mayor Gaudin is not as good as Mr. Friedrich."

The two laughed together: "Okay, let's drink and stop talking."

Heidi didn't understand what the two were laughing at, but she didn't ask. After pouring sparkling wine for the three of them, she said, "Gentlemen, please rest here. I'll contact Berlin to set up the reception. If you need anything, you can contact me or the flight attendant on the plane."

After hearing this, Xiao Peng said, "Okay, you're busy."

Watching Heidi leave, Walter asked puzzledly: “Boss, what are you and Fabian laughing at?”

Xiao Peng shook his head: "Nothing. We were just grinning."

There were some things he couldn't tell Walter. Sometimes these foreigners were really simple-minded.

When I was in China, I listened to the public intellectuals tirelessly promoting the integrity of foreign civil servants, and I hardly heard any corruption issues. This made Xiao Peng believe that foreign civil servants were truly honest.

But he couldn't understand: why were those politicians heavily in debt before becoming officials, but became rich after becoming officials?

Just like the new president of the United States, he owed over two million dollars before becoming vice president. Now he is worth tens of millions. How did he get to this point?

Later, as he came into contact with more and more people, Xiao Peng finally figured out the whole story.

Things like "bribing civil servants for convenience" are practically unheard of here. If caught doing so, you'll be arrested and jailed, and the punishment is severe! All government departments follow the rules and regulations, and no one deliberately creates problems. Things like "taking bribes" are practically unheard of. When Xiao Peng first came out, he also felt that foreigners, while slow in efficiency, were very honest.

However, as Xiao Peng's level improved and he came into contact with more people, he finally figured out the whole story. It was then that Xiao Peng realized how naive he had been.

Why do we often see foreign officials giving speeches? These speeches aren't free! You have to pay an appearance fee, and it's not a small sum; hundreds of thousands or millions are common! Just like the black president and his wife in the US, they've made hundreds of millions just from speaking. They can earn millions just by speaking for two or three hours...

People say this isn't bribery; these officials earned their salaries through their own hard work. But think about it another way: if these people weren't high-ranking politicians, who would invite them to speak? Isn't this bribery in disguise?

Many high-ranking officials also establish their own charitable foundations and begin to raise funds from the public. Is all this money really used for charity? Only a small portion goes to charity. What happens to the rest? Doesn't managing charitable foundations cost money? It's "administrative expenses"!

Just like the charity fund Xiao Peng set up for Felix, that's a 300 million charity fund! In fact, it's equivalent to giving Felix more money than he can spend in his lifetime! Otherwise, how could Elizabeth be so excited?

Of course, Xiao Peng did not do this entirely for Felix - he also did it for his own tax exemption. He made money too quickly, and it was inevitable that people would catch him by relying on those offshore companies to avoid taxes. Now that he had taken out 300 million, no one could say anything to him about the tax issue.

Another tactic is similar to "holding a concurrent position at a senior level." If you observe Western politicians, you'll find that most take on high-paying senior positions in companies before or after taking office. These companies use this tactic to manipulate politicians into favoring their companies when formulating policies.

Some people say, "Won't you be forgotten after you leave? What's the point of being a senior executive?"

The influence of these senior officials is there, so what's wrong with using their connections to benefit the companies?

Don't worry about the problem of "people leaving and the tea getting cold", the new officials are also waiting for the day when they will become executives after retirement!

Just as Heidi said, Friedrich was an executive at a pharmaceutical company and had specifically told Xiao Peng about the drugs produced by that company. In fact, Xiao Peng regretted agreeing to meet Friedrich the moment he heard the names of the three drugs.

He now has a basic judgment of Friedrich: he is a greedy person.

Walter was thoughtful and saw Xiao Peng's expression and asked, "Boss, why do you look like you don't like Mr. Friedrich?"

Xiao Peng thought for a moment and said, "I haven't met him, so I can't comment on what he's like as a person. I just don't like what he does."

"Hmm?" Now it was Fabian's turn to be curious. "What did he do that you didn't like?"

Xiao Peng explained: "I don't like the drugs produced by the pharmaceutical company he works for."

"What is that?" Fabian was confused.

Xiao Peng replied, "What are the local specialties of your Provence province?"

"A specialty of Provence? Isn't that lavender?" Fabian was confused.

"Fabian, listen to me. If you continue to be as stupid as you were today... well, stay naive!"