A DECADE on and seven weeks before the general election, Germany’s biggest political donations scandal has returned to haunt the Christian Democrats (CDU).
Former arms dealer and lobbyist Karlheinz Schreiber, believed to have given a CDU politician one million deutschemarks (€511,000) in cash in a suitcase, arrived in Germany from Canada yesterday after losing a 10-year extradition battle.
Mr Schreiber (75) faces a maximum of 15 years behind bars on charges of bribery, fraud and tax evasion for his role in a donations scandal in the late 1990s that tainted the legacy of former German chancellor Helmut Kohl.
Dr Kohl admitted failing to register correctly during his leadership up to two million deutschemarks in donations from sources he refused to name.
One of these donors is suspected to be Bavarian-born Mr Schreiber who, as well as funnelling money from arms companies to German politicians, is accused of offering bribes to ensure government approval of the sale of armoured cars to Saudi Arabia.
The ensuing scandal cost Dr Kohl’s successor as CDU leader, Wolfgang Schäuble, his job, and gave German chancellor Angela Merkel her chance for power.
In a 1999 newspaper article, Dr Merkel called on the CDU to distance itself from Dr Kohl, a daring challenge that ended with her taking the party leadership the following year.
The scandal’s return before polling day is inopportune, although Dr Merkel is personally untouched by the allegations.
It is also unclear whether Mr Schreiber will go on trial before election day. “The date of the national election will not play a role in any decisions on the trial,” said a court spokesman.
Mr Schreiber, who fled to Canada in March 1999 from Switzerland, said he was confident his return to Germany would prove a wild card in the campaign.
“With the elections in September, there’s going to be a huge circus that will spur an inquiry and [former] chancellor Kohl and all will be there,” he told reporters.
“If I come now that would be the greatest thing, it would start a huge investigation and [the Social Democrats] would think they could win the next election.”
The Social Democrats (SPD), junior coalition partners in a grand coalition with the CDU, are trailing the CDU by about 16 points in opinion polls.
Mr Schreiber’s extradition battle from Canada – where he holds citizenship – came to an end when a court rejected a final appeal. Canadian justice minister Rob Nicholson said he had been given “every reasonable opportunity to challenge his extradition”.
“His surrender to Germany was in full accord with the law and consistent with the spirit and purpose of extradition,” he added.
Politicians from Germany’s two ruling parties seemed unperturbed by the return of Mr Schreiber. “It has no political relevance whatsoever,” said Horst Seehofer, head of the CDU’s Bavarian sister party, the CSU.
SPD politician Wolfgang Thierse said his extradition had “nothing to do with the election battle”.