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Kohl Outburst Heats Up Scandal Probe

AP Online July 6, 2000 | TONY CZUCZKA, Associated Press Writer TONY CZUCZKA, Associated Press Writer AP Online 07-06-2000 Kohl Outburst Heats Up Scandal Probe

BERLIN (AP) — Former Chancellor Helmut Kohl flashed his temper during a hearing on his party’s financing scandal Thursday, shouting at parliament members when pressed to reveal the names of donors he has vowed to keep secret in breach of the law.

The clash erupted during Kohl’s second day of defiant testimony to the parliamentary committee when a member repeatedly asked Kohl in sharp tones how he would react if an ordinary citizen took such an attitude toward the law.

“You’re not going to shut me up with your shouting,” Kohl barked at Frank Hofmann, a lawmaker for the governing Social Democrats who triggered several minutes of tumult with the question.

“You’re not supposed to be silent, you’re supposed to talk,” Hofmann fired back. go to site kohls coupon codes

“I’m not going to talk in a situation where people are shouting,” Kohl parried.

Bristling, Kohl charged that it was the Social Democrats, who hold the panel majority, who “trampled on the constitution” by questioning German unification when he pushed it through in 1990 — Kohl’s proudest achievement in office.

Later, though, he acknowledged that he broke the law by accepting some $1 million in anonymous donations for his Christian Democratic party while he was chancellor in the 1990s. this web site kohls coupon codes

“My mistake was that I accepted donations that were not declared, and that I disregarded the law,” he said.

The 9-month-old scandal centers on Kohl’s steadfast refusal to name the sources of the illegal donations. Kohl refused to budge during his first appearance before the committee last week and again during seven hours of testimony Thursday, where he said he would talk about party financing only to Bonn prosecutors investigating possible criminal charges against him.

That stance has prompted the parliamentary investigation into whether his 1982-98 government traded favors for money, something Kohl denies. He says he promised the donors anonymity and won’t break his word.

True to his view that the committee is an instrument of political foes who want to wreck his legacy as “unity chancellor,” the 70-year-old Kohl accused the panel of bias as it probes the allegations of bribe-taking.

Kohl strode into the hearing room with a confident smile, looking relaxed and amused as photographers swarmed around him at the witness table. Once questioning began, he quickly showed his combative side again when snickers greeted one of his answers.

“The problem is that you don’t want to recognize the truth,” he declared to the committee. “That’s why you have to sit through this now.”

Kohl had been asked about the privatization of a major oil refinery in former East Germany, which was sold in 1994 to French concern Elf Aquitaine.

As he has in the past, Kohl said charges that the French paid millions in bribes to his party for the refinery were ridiculous because Elf Aquitaine had to be persuaded to buy it. He said he made several personal appeals to then-French President Francois Mitterrand to clinch the deal, saving thousands of east German jobs when west German competitors wanted the refinery closed.

Earlier, two former Siemens executives testified they had no knowledge of illegal donations by the German industrial giant to Kohl’s party during the 1980s. The allegation had been made by one of the party’s former financial officers, Uwe Luethje.

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TONY CZUCZKA, Associated Press Writer