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German scandal party loses appeal
BERLIN, Germany -- Germany's opposition Christian Democrat party has lost an appeal against a decision requiring it to forfeit 21 million euros ($22.5 million) for falsifying its accounts. On Tuesday, the Federal Administrative Court upheld a Berlin court's ruling in June 2002 that Parliament President Wolfgang Thierse was entitled to order the conservative party to give up government matching funds from 2000. The scandal erupted in the wake of former Chancellor Helmut Kohl's admission in late 1999 that he accepted some two million marks ($1 million) in anonymous -- and thus illegal -- donations as chancellor and party leader during the 1990s. However, Kohl rejected allegations he was open to bribery or defrauded his party and also refused to identify the donors, saying he gave them his word of honour. In June 2001, Kohl paid a 300,000-mark ($130,100) fine in return for a criminal fraud investigation being dropped. The fine was imposed by a court in Bonn in return for dropping an inquiry against Kohl because of a number of mitigating factors. The court concluded he had not personally enriched himself through the donations and took into account his 50 years of public service in German politics. Kohl's lawyers said at the time that the former chancellor had agreed to the fine "to avoid a lengthy legal process that would be a great burden to him and his family." Kohl, a former leader and chairman of the Christian Democratic Party Kohl, was chancellor for 16 years. In Germany, 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. Thierse originally ordered the Christian Democrats to pay back the money in February 2000, after it emerged that the party branch in Hesse state had failed to declare 9 million euros ($9.67 million) in assets in 1998. The scandal 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.
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