1999
The scandal broke on November 4 when the district court in Augsburg ordered the arrest Walter Leisler Kiep because of supected tax evasion. Between 1971 and 1992 Kiep served as federal treasurer of the CDU party. Kiep had come in the crosshairs of the tax authorities in the context of an investigation that prosecutors in Augsburg had launched into the business dealings of fugitive arms lobbyist Karlheinz Schreiber. The investigations bolstered suspicions that Kiep had received 1 million DM in cash from Schreiber without legally disclosing the payment.
Kiep surrendered to the authorities on November 5 and admitted that he, along with CDU tax advisor Horst Weyrauch, had received the money from Schreiber at highway stop in Switzerland on 26 August 1991. Kiep also indicated that the money had been used as a CDU party donation. Kiep was subsequently released on a bail of 500,000 DM.
On November 6, former Chancellor and then-CDU honorary chairman Helmut Kohl declared that he had no knowledge of the illegal party financing.
On November 8, CDU secretary general Angela Merkel demanded a swift and comprehensive investigation of the scandal. On the same day, Weyrauch declared that the money had been placed in an escrow account.
On November 12, Schreiber confirmed that he had merely acted as an intermediary. According to Schreiber, the donation was politically motivated. Allegations that the money was connected to kick-back payments related to delivery of German tanks to Saudi Arabia were rejected by Helmut Kohl. In a TV interview on November 23, Kiep declared that the CDU leadership had been in the know about the donation.
Three days later, former CDU secretary general Heiner Geißler confirmed the existence of secret party bank accounts.
On November 28, CDU party chairman Wolfgang Schäuble assured the German public of a thorough investigation into the scandal. Furthermore, Schäuble confirmed that the CDU had maintained escrow accounts with the tax advisor office Weyhrauch, but emphasized that these were not covert bank accounts.
In a report published on November 29, Der Spiegel reported that the revenues of the CDU party organization in the state of Hesse had increased dramatically during 1989-1991 to reach several million DM. The party had officially attributed the influx of these funds to anonymous donors.
Several days later, on November 30, Helmut Kohl accepted political responsibility for his party's illegal bank accounts. Kohl declared that he had steered confidential special donations to party units and associations. He apologized for the lack of transparency and potential violations of party finance laws.
On December 2, the German Bundestag launched a special investigative committee to shed light on the CDU donation scandal.
In a TV appearance on December 16, Helmut Kohl declared that during his time as CDU chairman up to 2 million DM in donations were not properly booked.Kohl refused to divulge the names of the donors and claimed that he was bound bis his word of honor.
On December 22, CDU secretary general Angela Merkel published an op-ed in the Frankfurter Allgemeinen Zeitung calling her party to sever ties with Helmut Kohl.
On December 31, the CDU released a modified annual report for the year 1998 that included unaccounted revenues of 2.3 million DM during 1993-1996.
Read more about this topic: CDU Donations Scandal (1999)