Kohl to be fined in slush fund scandal
German prosecutors have agreed to let off Helmut Kohl with a £100,000 fine after investigating the former chancellor’s central role in a party financing scandal.
He had been under investigation for a year after admitting accepting illegal campaign donations while chancellor and leader of the Christian Democratic party.
Now prosecutors in Bonn have recommended closing the criminal case against Kohl in return for the fine, the North-Rhine Westphalia state justice ministry said.
Kohl, 70, has sought such a deal for months. To stymie the breach of trust charges, he has privately raised millions to pay back fines that parliament imposed on his party for anonymous donations he says he accepted in the 1990s.
Accepting anonymous party donations is illegal in Germany, but Kohl opted to raise the money rather than reveal the names of the donors whom he says he promised confidentiality.
If approved by the court, the deal would allow Kohl to emerge from the affair without a criminal record to sully his reputation as the statesman who reunited Germany in 1990.
