Court Cases About Bad Politicians in Germany and Austria
Introduction
Courts in Germany and Austria are judging powerful politicians. These people took money or helped friends get jobs illegally.
Main Body
In Germany, Joachim Wolbergs was a mayor. The court says he took 475,000 euros from a builder. He broke the law because he did not tell the government about this money. The builder then bought a city building for 23 million euros. Wolbergs says he did not know the builder's plan. A main witness is sick and cannot speak in court. The lawyers want Wolbergs to go to prison for 30 months. In Austria, August Wöginger was a party leader. He helped a friend get a high job at a tax office. This friend was not good for the job. A better person did not get the job because of this.
Conclusion
The German court will decide about Wolbergs in May. The Austrian court already gave Wöginger a seven-month sentence, but he does not go to prison now.
Learning
Talking about the Past
When we tell a story about things that already happened, we often change the action word (verb). Look at these examples from the text:
- Take → Took ("He took money")
- Break → Broke ("He broke the law")
- Give → Gave ("The court gave a sentence")
The Pattern: These are 'Special' words. They do not follow the normal rule of adding "-ed". You must memorize them to speak English correctly at an A2 level.
Common 'Money' Words to Remember:
- Budget/Amount: 475,000 euros
- Price: 23 million euros
- Penalty: Prison sentence
Simple Tip: Use "did not" to say something was not true in the past. Example: "He did not know the plan." (Notice that 'know' stays in its normal form when we use 'did not').