Two bits of news which speak for themselves.

The former head of IKB Deutsche Industriebank became the first person in Germany to be convicted in relation to the 2007-08 financial crisis.

A Düsseldorf Regional Court convicted former chief executive officer Stefan Ortseifen of market manipulation. He was accused of misstating IKB’s risks regarding asset-backed securities tied to the U.S. mortgage market in a press release. Mr. Ortsfein had denied wrongdoing.

In addition to a suspended jail term, Mr. Ortseifen must pay a penalty of £87,000.

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The day before, EU finance officials said that results of the eurobank stress-tests would be released on July 23.

Lying through his expensively capped teeth, Didier Reynders, the Belgian finance minister said:

“We want this to be as broadly based as possible, involving the institutions with sovereign debt exposure. We want this to give as much credibility to our banking institutions as possible.”

However, once this broadly-based exercise in credulity has been completed, national regulators will decide whether to publish additional information which might prove sensitive.

While personally I would’ve given the German 500 lashes and twenty years, you have to admit there’s a certain difference in the style/substance between these two snippets.