Kohl to pay fine to end fraud inquiry

The scandal has tarnished Kohl's reputation

BERLIN Germany -- Lawyers for former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl say he has agreed to pay a fine in exchange for prosecutors dropping a criminal fraud investigation against him.

Kohl's lawyers said he would pay the 300,000 marks ($142,000), meaning he avoids a trial and possible criminal record over illegally accepting secret cash donations.

Kohl admitted late in 1999 to having broken party funding rules by accepting $1 million in payments from anonymous donors.

But he rejected allegations his government was open to bribery and that he defrauded his party.

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Kohl's Essen-based lawyers firm Holthoff-Pfoertner said prosecutors were told last October that he would agree to such a move "to avoid a lengthy legal process that would be a great burden to him and his family."

The decision to close the inquiry must still be formally approved by a court in Bonn which could take several days, a Kohl spokeswoman said.

Parliamentary inquiry continues

The accord removes the most direct legal threat facing Kohl but is not the end of the affair.

The leader of a separate parliamentary probe into whether the donations constituted bribes said the former chancellor now had no reason to withhold the names of donors whose identity he has protected.

"We would ask him to testify again," said Volker Neumann of the ruling Social Democrats. "If criminal investigations are closed, he can no longer make use of his right to silence."

The scandal, which broke in 1999, tarnished Kohl's image as an international statesman and plunged his opposition Christian Democrats into crisis.

The party has been in opposition since 1998 when Gerhard Schroeder ousted Kohl after 16 years of rule, and its poll ratings have been sent into free fall.

CNN's European political editor Robin Oakley said what is left of Kohl's reputation has a dark cloud over it.

"He reunified Germany and dominated his country's politics for more than a decade.

"But, whatever the legal arrangements to avoid a criminal record, his record will forever now be a tarnished one. He has effectively admitted his guilt."

His one consolation, said Oakley, was that he was not alone.

"It has proved to be an era when politicians were incapable of exciting enough enthusiasm from their parties to raise the necessary funds to work their political machines.

"Many have therefore taken in cash through the back door and Kohl is only one of a series of senior politicians across Europe who have departed under the blackest of black clouds in consequence."

The affair returned to the public spotlight earlier this week when German authorities briefly held a key suspect in a major French corruption trial seen as able to shed further light on the payments.

Alfred Sirven, a second-in-command at former state-owned French oil giant Elf, was detained in transit at Frankfurt airport on Saturday but refused to answer questions before being extradited to France on Tuesday to face trial there.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Elf suspect appears in Paris court
February 7, 2001
Elf fugitive faces German grilling
February 6, 2001
Kohl wins key backing
January 25, 2001
German minister denies protecting Kohl
January 6, 2001
Kohl faces second investigation
November 27, 2000
Kohl memoirs hit out at successors
November 19, 2000

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