Germany's lost property laws should mean a Munich electrician is up for a reward worth thousands of euros. But the honest finder has been left empty-handed — so far.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/J. Woitas
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A German electrician who discovered €80,000 ($100,000) hidden behind a power socket has complained about not receiving any reward for turning in the money.
While working to install a new stove into a Munich nurse's apartment, Oliver Jungtäubl found an old salt container stuffed with €26,000 in cash.
"I stayed calm," Jungtäubl told local tabloid TZ. "But the young woman behind me almost jumped out of her shoes."
The electrician called the police, who found the additional cash and needed three hours to count it all, according to TZ.
Under German law, people who find large sums of money and report it are eligible for a finder's fee of 5 percent for the first €500 and 3 percent of any additional amount. In Jungtäubl's case, this would amount to €2,410. Jungtäubl told reporters he was a single father and wanted to use the money to take his son on a holiday.
But the case has been complicated by a lengthy investigation to determine the rightful owner of the money. The money was likely stashed there by a previous tenant who has since died. Jungtäubl found the money in 2016 and the case is still pending.
"It's not even sure if the money really belonged to the deceased previous tenant. The executor refuses to pay me the 3 percent finder's fee that I am legally entitled to. She told me to get a court order. She wouldn't pay me a cent before that. The finder's fee is independent of who owns the find," Jungtäubl told the daily Süddeutsche Zeitung.
A redesigned 50-euro banknote is entering circulation. Why was a new one needed, and how is it produced? Here are some facts about the most-used and most-counterfeited euro bill.
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It's here, finally!
The curtain rises. The ECB's Yves Mersch officially presented the new 50-euro banknote design in summer 2016. Half a year later, the new bill is going into circulation. In a first phase, 5.4 billion bills will be distributed.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/F. Rumpenhorst
Old bill gets facelift
People have been poking fun at Britain's exit from the EU on social media. But the Britons have never considered changing the Pound Sterling for the euro anyway.
Image: Twitter/DakiDax
Security features
The new bill has about a dozen security features to make life harder for counterfeiters.The large number of fake bills in circulation is the main reason for the gradual replacement of the old 50 euro banknotes.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/B. Roessler
Just how safe is it?
Some of the bill's features can only be seen under ultraviolet light. That doesn't make counterfeiting impossible, but it does make it harder.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/B. Roessler
Counterfeits galore
ECB sources say that the 50 euro bill is the second most popular target for counterfeiters, after the 20 euro bill. In the first half of 2016, 353.000 fake bills were withdrawn from circulation. The Bundesbank displayed some novelty counterfeit bills in an exhibition last summer.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/B. Roessler
It all starts with plain paper
Giesecke & Devrient is the printing company producing the new 50 euro bills. The proces involves bleaching cotton fibres, washing them, and making them into paper-pulp. These are then made into long paper strips which already include some security features, like watermarks and security threads.
Image: Europäische Zentralbank
Printing money costs money
Banknotes cost between 7 and 16 euro cents to produce. To reduce wage costs, Giesecke & Devrient offshored it printing press from Munich, Bavaria to Malaysia. The company has reduced its German workforce a lot in recent years - with 700 jobs cut in 2016 alone. Pictured: a 2015 union protest against job cuts.
Image: picture alliance/Sven Simon/F. Hoermann
Paper money: So yesterday?
The use of paper money is decreasing across the European Union, as many people pay digitally online or use their credit cards in stores. But the European Central Bank (ECB) has said it does not intend to scrap paper money altogether.
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The nurse's claim
He said the case was even further complicated by the current tenant, who was trying to lodge a claim under the so-called "treasure trove" clause. In cases where the owner of an old found treasure cannot be determined, the finder is granted half ownership while the other half goes to the owner of where the treasure was hidden, usually the landowner.
Jungtäubl told the Süddeutsche Zeitung that despite being the finder, he let the tenant sign the official police form, so she was technically the beneficiary.
"People reveal their true character when it comes to a lot of money. And for honesty, they even laugh at you," he told the paper when asked what he had learned from the saga.
Jungtäubl did not say how old the notes were, but Germany began circulating euro notes in 2002.
