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Investigation Panel Opposes Ruling Against Kohl
An investigator has expressed her disapproval of the ruling by Bonn's prosecutorate against former German chancellor Helmut Kohl, warning of "disastrous legal and political consequences," the German magazine Stern reported Friday.
Evelyn Kenzler, a member of a committee charged with investigating the financial scandal of the Christian Democratic Union led by Kohl, urged the state justice court not to approve the ruling.
The prosecutors in Bonn ruled on Thursday that the former chancellor would be fined 300,000 German marks instead of facing full criminal charges.
Kohl has admitted that he had broken party funding rules to accept 2.1 million German marks in secret cash donations while in office, but refused to reveal the names of donators.
Volker Neumann, chairman of the investigation committee, said Thursday that if he accepted the ruling, Kohl would lose the right to remain silent and have to reveal the names.
The committee is expected to summon Kohl again for testimony. If he continues to keep silent, Kohl will face new penalties.
The scandal, which broke in 1999, brought Kohl's conservative Christian Democrats to the verge of break-up. In opposition since 1998 when current Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and his Social Democratic Party ousted Kohl after 16 years of rule, they are still dogged by the aftermath of the affair.
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