It is a low temperature scandal, and goes into media whenever there is something news worthy.
In Germany it is totally normal that former politicians switch sides and get high profile jobs in private corporations, often as influencers.
Even active MdB / Abgeordnete could earn millions, they only need to publish the rough dimension of their earnings.
As former chancellor, Schröder is granted a free office with Secretary in Berlin payed by taxpayer money about 0.5 M€ annually, and there are initiatives to abolish this service because of his Gazprom connection.
The strong connections between private economy and government is seen as a key success factor for Germany‘s economy, called Deutschland AG in the 1970‘s (Germany PLC).
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutschland_AG https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerhard_Schr%C3%B6der