Germany's former chancellor, Dr Helmut Kohl, confirmed yesterday that he accepted five free flights from Leo Kirch, one of Germany's leading media magnates, since he left office. But he rejected any link between Mr Kirch's generosity and the former chancellor's efforts to persuade the European Commission to approve the media boss's plans to create a Pay-TV alliance with two other German companies between 1996 and 1998.
"It is entirely wrong to connect flights in 1999 with the planned Pay-TV alliance with Bertelsmann and (Deutsche) Telekom before 1999," Dr Kohl said in a letter to Stern magazine, which publishes details of the flights in today's issue.
Stern claims that Dr Kohl put pressure on the former President of the EU Commission, Mr Jacques Santer, to approve a merger between Bertelsmann's Pay-TV channel Premiere and Mr Kirch's DF1. The Commission rejected the merger twice, in 1996 and in 1998.
Dr Kohl and Mr Kirch have long been friends and the former chancellor admitted yesterday that he had accepted free flights from Bonn to Bern, Vienna and Frankfurt.
"Dr Kohl's flights are not connected to the business affairs of the Kirch group. But it is true that Mr Kirch made an aircraft available to Dr Kohl five times. Mr Kirch paid for these flights out of his personal income," a spokesman for Mr Kirch said yesterday.
Dr Kohl is under criminal investigation for his role in a network of secret accounts used by his Christian Democrats and he faces a parliamentary inquiry into whether illegal donations influenced his government's actions.
The Chancellor, Mr Gerhard Schroder, has launched an investigation into the disappearance from the chancellery of files relating to the purchase in 1992 of the eastern German Leuna oil refinery by the French company Elf Aquitaine. Elf Aquitaine is suspected of paying bribes to Dr Kohl's party in connection with the deal.
The former EU competition commissioner, Mr Karel Van Miert, said yesterday that he long had concerns about irregularities regarding the sale but said it was difficult to obtain any information about it from Dr Kohl's government.
"Our investigations nourished the suspicions. Conversations with Elf managers reinforced this view. But it was incredibly difficult to get any information from the previous German government," he said.
Dr Kohl's refusal to identify secret donors to the Christian Democrats has plunged the party into crisis and one of the former chancellor's most loyal allies warned yesterday that Dr Kohl's reputation as a statesman was now at risk.
Mr Norbert Blum, Labour Minister in all four of Dr Kohl's governments, urged the former chancellor to swallow his pride and name the names at last.
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