Kohl’s Successor Under Fire; He Also Accepted Cash

German opposition leader Wolfgang Schaeuble came under pressure Wednesday to resign after belatedly admitting that he accepted an irregular campaign donation in the same fashion as his scandal-stained predecessor, Helmut Kohl.

Schaeuble said he had no plans to quit as leader of the Christian Democratic Union but was sorry not to have admitted earlier that he took a $52,740 cash donation.

“It was a mistake that I did not reveal this information to the public sooner,” Schaeuble said in an interview to appear in today’s Bild newspaper. “I am sorry for that.”

Schaeuble, who said he will run for reelection as CDU chairman at a party congress in April, was assailed by some conservative politicians and ordinary party members for undermining CDU credibility with his bombshell admission.

“No one understands why Schaeuble waited so long to tell us about this,” said Peter Ramsauer of the CDU’s Bavarian ally, the Christian Social Union. Schaeuble had been pressing Kohl and others for two months to reveal all they knew.

Even conservative commentators who had long supported Schaeuble and his efforts to steer the CDU through the most severe crisis in its 50-year history called on the 57-year-old party leader to quit.

Though Schaeuble seemed secure in his job just days ago, speculation emerged from within CDU ranks that he would be replaced at the party congress in April.

CDU officials said Saxony state governor Kurt Biedenkopf, 69, could be named interim leader. He is one of the CDU’s most popular members and made a career out of standing up to Kohl.

The CDU was first plunged into the crisis after Kohl, chancellor for 16 years and party chairman for a quarter of a century until 1998, admitted late last year that he took more than $1 million in undeclared campaign donations.

Kohl, once the hero of German unification, is under criminal investigation. He is defying the law by refusing to name the donors.

Schaeuble, who pledged to clear up the affair, disclosed under pressure this week, after earlier vague denials, that he accepted cash campaign funds from a Canadian arms dealer.