German Finance Minister Resigns Amid Scandal

German Economics Minister Juergen Moellemann resigned Sunday after admitting he had used his influence to promote a relative’s business venture.

Chancellor Helmut Kohl, who had been expected to replace Moellemann anyway in a midterm Cabinet shuffle later this month, accepted the resignation in a terse statement that made no mention of the scandal.

The resignation is likely to set off a new round of infighting within Moellemann’s tiny Free Democratic Party.

The party was embarrassed last fall by a vicious tug of war between the older, established leadership and young members of the rank and file over who would replace the most prominent member of Kohl’s Cabinet, retiring Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher.

Moellemann was seen as a prime agitator in that fight, and a woman who ended up losing the coveted Cabinet post later referred to him as an “intriguing swine.”

The 47-year-old Moellemann, an ambitious former teacher who came into the high-profile job with no economics expertise, blamed overwork for his downfall and denied any wrongdoing.

Returning from a two-week Caribbean vacation, Moellemann told a news conference he was stepping down to avoid “the public squabbling that would probably be inevitable if I remained in the ministry.”

The scandal involved letters on official stationery encouraging supermarket chains to invest in a shopping-cart security system that the German media later revealed was owned by Moellemann’s cousin.