Eastern Wing of Kohl’s Party Investigated for Embezzlement

German Chancellor Helmut Kohl’s Christian Democrats are being investigated for possible embezzlement of funds abroad by the eastern wing of the party when it was an ally of East Germany’s ruling Communists, Berlin justice authorities said Thursday.

The investigation into the eastern half of the Christian Democratic Union, an ally of the Communists until last year’s democratic revolution that led to unification, was announced just 11 days before the first pan-German general election.

“The investigation is focusing on unnamed officials who had access to the party’s funds in December, 1989,” said Berlin Justice Minister Jutta Limbach.

The investigation into the eastern CDU, known as the Christian Democratic Union of Germany before it merged with Kohl’s conservatives in September, follows a similar inquiry last month into East Germany’s reform Communists, the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS).

The inquiry, including two police raids on party headquarters, seriously undermined the PDS’ election chances.

A statement from Limbach said the CDU investigation had been launched in response to an article in the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper Thursday. The Munich-based daily said CDU officials had deposited $21.8 million in cash at a bank in Luxembourg last December.

The report cited a telex to CDU headquarters in East Berlin describing the transfer through a bank in Denmark. The telex also mentioned that a parallel effort to smuggle out $105 million had failed.

Lothar de Maiziere, the east CDU’s former chairman and East Germany’s last prime minister, has confirmed the existence of the telex but has denied the party’s present leadership was guilty of wrongdoing.