German customs detains Arnold Schwarzenegger, insists no one is above the law
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Actor and former United States politician Arnold Schwarzenegger was detained by customs officials at Munich Airport on Wednesday after failing to declare a luxury watch in his luggage while on his way to Austria.
German tabloid Bild, which first reported on Schwarzenegger’s detention, said the 76-year-old actor stayed with German authorities for around three hours after they found a custom-made Audemars Piguet wristwatch – worth nearly $30,000 – in his luggage.
“If the goods remain in the EU [European Union], you have to declare them through customs. This applies to everyone, whether their name is Schwarzenegger or Müller, Meier, Huber,” a spokesperson for Munich main customs told German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, according to reporting by Time.
That is in sharp contrast to the situation in Nigeria where any law can be broken with impunity by the well-connected – public officials, politicians, celebrities, the rich, and such others.
Criminal tax proceedings were initiated against Schwarzenegger – a former World bodybuilding champion who twice governed California, America’s most populous state – with a customs spokesperson saying the watch “should have been registered because it is an import.”
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Schwarzenegger planning to auction watch for charity
Schwarzenegger reportedly told customs officials that he was planning to auction the watch for a good cause – his non-profit Schwarzenegger Climate Initiative – has a fundraising event scheduled in the town of Kitzbühel near Austria’s Kaiser Mountains on Thursday.
German officials reportedly charged Schwarzenegger some $38,000, including more than $4,000 in tax value and a more than $5,000 penalty, according to Bild.
An unidentified source told CBS that the actor had not been asked to fill out a declaration form and tried to pay the dues at the airport with a credit card – but the machine was not working.
Customs officials ended up accompanying Schwarzenegger to a bank terminal to withdraw the money.
The actor was expected to continue on his journey but a customs spokesperson told Agence-France Presse (AFP) that “the watch will probably have to stay.”
Schwarzenegger told Bild: “This is the problem that Germany is suffering from. You can no longer see the forest for the trees.”
Other items up for bidding at the fundraiser Schwarzenegger was slated to attend include a “training session” with the former bodybuilding champion himself, as well as “artworks, signed exhibits, and experiences from the worlds of sports and film.”