-Caveat Lector-
"``The handover of cash in a suitcase at a parking lot is a scene that
doesn't square with the reputation of [Germany's] Christian Democrat party.'
''
Report Says Kohl Never Knew of Deals
BERLIN (AP) - Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and a previous
secretary-general of the Christian Democrat party denied they knew anything
about shady financial dealings while they were in power, according to
newspaper reports.
Kohl said he never knew an arms dealer who has admitted handing the
equivalent of $520,000 in cash to the party's treasurer at a Swiss shopping
center in 1991.
``I had no knowledge of this before these proceedings began three weeks
ago,'' Kohl told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper in an interview to be
published Sunday.
Meanwhile, the news magazine Der Spiegel reported Saturday that a head of the
party's administrative office had referred to ``careless financial
machinations'' as early as 1989, resulting in his dismissal.
The magazine also reported that former party workers said Kohl had asked
payments to be entered as ``something different'' in the party's books, for
example, to conceal expensive lawyers' fees.
On Friday, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported that prosecutors investigating
party finances confiscated records indicating that the party's tax adviser
split up large corporate contributions among anonymous escrow accounts to
hide their origin. The money was then transferred from such ``slush funds''
to state branches of the party at Kohl's direction, according to the report.
Former Defense Minister Volker Ruehe, who was then secretary-general of the
party, said he had no knowledge of the slush funds, according to a report in
the Welt am Sonntag newspaper.
``The accusation that politics in Germany can be bought is outrageous,''
Ruehe said in the interview to be published Sunday.
Still, he said there was no question that the scandal must be cleared up.
``The handover of cash in a suitcase at a parking lot is a scene that doesn't
square with the party's reputation,'' Ruehe said.
Earlier this week, Kohl angrily intervened during a parliament debate on the
budget and demanded the affair be investigated quickly and he be called to
testify before Christmas.
The accounts came to light as parliament launched a probe into charges that
Christian Democratic party officials took bribes for a 1991 sale of military
vehicles to Saudi Arabia that was approved by Kohl.
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