Dubious deposits of £5m found at CDU

Independent auditors investigating illegal donations to Germany's opposition Christian Democrats (CDU) found more than £5 million in dubious deposits, the party revealed yesterday.

The auditors were unable to tell who donated the money, which was lodged in the party's accounts between 1989 and 1998, and they could not establish how more than £1.5 million was spent.

Presenting details of the auditors' report in Berlin yesterday, the CDU's chairman, Dr Wolfgang Schauble, said the party would take legal action against Mr Horst Weyrauch, a former official in charge of party finances and a confidante of Dr Helmut Kohl. However, Dr Schauble ruled out taking action against the former chancellor to force him to reveal the names of donors who gave illegal funds.

"We want Helmut Kohl to remain in the centre of the party," he said.

The question of how to deal with Dr Kohl dominated a seven-hour meeting of the CDU leadership which ended early yesterday. Supporters of the former chancellor warned that any legal move against him would split the party and alienate many supporters.

Dr Kohl has refused to identify the donors on the grounds that he gave them his word that they would remain anonymous. However, the party leadership fears that until the names are made public it will be impossible to dispel the suspicion that donations influenced government policy when Dr Kohl was in office.

The CDU in Bonn announced yesterday that it was taking a criminal action against an unknown person who forged a fax purporting to be a statement by Dr Kohl. The fax, which was sent to a number of news agencies, said Dr Kohl had decided to identify the donors after all.

The Chancellor, Mr Gerhard Schroder, announced an investigation into the disappearance from the chancellery of files relating to the purchase of an eastern German oil refinery by the French oil company Elf Aquitaine in 1992. Dr Kohl has denied an allegation that the late French president, Mr Francois Mitterrand, arranged for £12 million to be channelled to CDU around the time of the sale.

Prosecutors in Switzerland are investigating an allegation that Elf Aquitaine paid more than £30 million in connection with the eastern German deal, which has also aroused the suspicions of the European Commission.

The chairman of a Bundestag committee investigating the CDU funding scandal said yesterday that the inquiry would also look into the Elf Aquitaine allegations.

In an attempt to draw a line under the scandal, Dr Schauble yesterday described his predecessor's system of illegal funding as unacceptable and said it had undermined the democratic process. He promised to introduce a new, transparent accounting system for the party.