To: Inspekteur Clausewitz, RFP Oberkommando | Subject: Legitimacy of cargo scans

[Bundeskabinett Sekretariat]

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PRIORITY: High
ENCRYPTION: High
IDENTIFICATION: Bundesminister der Justiz Leopold Richter
SOURCE: Hauptsitz der Bundesministerium der Justiz, Planet New Berlin
SUBJECT: Legitimacy of cargo scans

Guten Tag, Sehr geehrte Inspekteur Clausewitz, bundesminister Richter hier. I have some bad news for you.

As you know from our last meeting, some time ago Bundesministerium der Justiz received several complaints about fines issued on the basis of evidence submitted by civilians in form of cargo scans which were showing alleged smuggling of illegal cargo. After in-depth examination, we found out that this is very problematic issue. In majority of examined cases, scans were taken by scanning devices which - in contrast with scanners used by federal polizei, military and Büro der Marineintelligenz - does not have proper certificates which will guarantee that the device scanned and identified the cargo of other ship correctly, and also that the evidence was not tampered.

I guess you understand that this is highly delicate matter because it can actually question many fines issued by Bundespolizei. We unofficially consulted this issue with judges of the Rheinland Federal Court of Justice already, and they clearly told us that in case of official complaint, polizei and Bundesministeriums der Justiz would be in very difficult position because the accused and fined individual can question the evidence which was made by uncertified scanning device and the cargo was never physically checked to verify veracity of the scan, thus fines issued only on the basis of this evidence might be revoked. Especially in cases when accused ship didn´t use trade lanes or jump gates.

You have to understand that if such case will happen and will appear in media, it can threaten trust of Rheinland citizens in important part of our legal system and also credibility of work of federal polizei space forces. Not to mention possible financial losses in case of fines refund and payments of compensation.

Staff and legal consultants of Bundesministeriums der Justiz are currently analyzing whole issue even further and work on possible solution to prevent any legal problems. However, until they will find it, I unfortunately have to issue this regulation: Until further notice, no fines can be issued on the sole basis of cargo scan evidence. Only exception are cargo scans submitted by members of house law enforcement authorities - and made with proper certified equipment mounted on their ships - which were for some reason not able to stop law breakers physically and deal with them directly on the spot.

I´m aware that this might have negative impact on fight against smuggling, however as I said, trust of Rheinlanders in justice is in stake. And that is too much to tolerate any potential risks.

Mit Freundlichen Grüßen,

Bundesminister der Justiz Leopold Richter

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