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German conservatives face new probe

The allegations against the CSU come at a critical time for its leader, Edmund Stoiber
The allegations against the CSU come at a critical time for its leader, Edmund Stoiber  


BERLIN, Germany -- A German conservative political party is again at the centre of claims of financial irregularities.

A magazine has reported that the Christian Social Union used fake invoices to claim millions in federal funds during the 1990s. The party denies the allegations.

The allegations come at a critical time for Edmund Stoiber, head of the Bavaria-based party, who polls show is the conservatives' best hope of challenging centrist Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in elections later this year.

The conservatives were just starting to narrow the gap in the opinion polls with Schroeder's SPD, ending two years in the doldrums since former Chancellor Helmut Kohl admitted taking about $1 million in secret party donations.

They are expected to name their candidate for chancellor this month. The choice is likely to be between Christian Democrat leader Angela Merkel and Bavarian premier Stoiber, who heads the CSU, the target of the Stern report and the CDU's sister party. Germany will go to the polls on September 22.

Volker Neumann, head of the parliamentary committee that investigated the Kohl slush fund scandal, called on the justice authorities to launch initial investigations against the CSU.

Merkel, who became the first woman leader of a major German party when she took over the CDU in 2000 in the wake of the Kohl scandal, kept out of the dispute and called for unity over who should face Schroeder.

'Vicious campaign'

German political parties receive funds from the federal government based on how many votes they receive.

They also get a 50 percent match on all donations. Parties' financial disclosures determine how much the government pays in matching funds.

According to the report in this week's edition of Stern magazine, the CSU broke party financing laws when it claimed about six million marks ($2.7 million) in matching funds during 1994-99 by declaring subscriptions to party publications as campaign donations.

Calling the allegations slanderous, CSU secretary-general Thomas Goppel insisted the practice had been declared legal by parliamentary officials who administer campaign money from public coffers.

He denied wrongdoing by his party and charged allegations in the magazine piece were inspired by people close to Schroeder's Social Democratic Party.

"We expect the public to realise very clearly that what we are seeing here is a vicious campaign," he said on ARD television.

But Goppel did confirm the Stern report that between 1994 and 1999 the CSU had listed the funds in question as "contribution subscriptions" in its financial returns and said parliamentary authorities had previously approved the practice.

Although the party has rejected the allegations as slander inspired by political foes, parliamentary officials have opened an investigation.

Any Stoiber candidacy depends on the approval of the main conservative opposition party, the Christian Democratic Union.

Though neither has openly declared a bid in hopes of avoiding a public battle over the conservative candidate, some officials have said the two parties could reach a decision this month.

Stoiber's position was bolstered by a poll published Wednesday that showed 68 percent of Germans believe he has a better chance of defeating Schroeder than Merkel.

The poll, conducted last month for the weekly Die Woche, had a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.



 
 
 
 


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