Berlin - The former German chancellor, Dr Helmut Kohl, held his silence on illegal political donations to his Christian Democratic (CDU) party yesterday and dismissed the committee investigating the donations as a "weapon of war" created by the government to destroy his reputation, reports Derek Scally. Dr Kohl was facing questions for the third time from a parliamentary committee which has spent the last year investigating whether secret cash donations totalling DM2 million (£800,000) to the CDU were bribes.