The Bundesbank will review gratuities that all its board members have received to examine whether any payments or gifts violate central bank rules and its code of ethics.
In Berlin, opposition lawmakers demanded answers to media reports that the government was pressurising Bundesbank president Mr Ernst Welteke to resign over a bank-financed family holiday because he had resisted gold sales that would fill holes in its budget.
The German central bank in Frankfurt said it would also establish more "concrete and transparent" criteria for what gratuities its board members can accept, following the row over a lavish hotel bill for Mr Welteke paid by a top commercial bank.
In a statement yesterday, the Bundesbank's vice president, Mr Jürgen Stark said the review of past payments and gifts as well as setting new standards would be conducted jointly by an ethics adviser and its internal audit department.
Mr Welteke temporarily stepped aside last week in the ethics row while state prosecutors examine whether he should have allowed Dresdner Bank, which he regulates, to pay his €7,661 bill for his family's four-day stay at the Adlon Hotel.
Mr Welteke has resisted calls from the government and opposition lawmakers to resign.
The Bundesbank had announced on April 9th that it would adopt the European Central Bank's code of ethics and name an ethics adviser.
Meanwhile, Mr Stark is filling in for Mr Welteke on the ECB's policy setting Governing Council.
On Sunday Germany's Bild am Sonntag newspaper said the Bundesbank had broadened its investigation to all eight board members to examine whether any received payments or gifts that violate central bank rules.
Responding to the report Mr Stark said: "To obtain more objectivity into the appropriateness of reimbursements, payments etcetera, the board decided on April 9th to name an ethics adviser. Together with the internal auditor, and against the backdrop of previous practice, his or her task will also include establishing more concrete and transparent criteria on the basis of contracts, Bundesbank law and ethics code," he said.
Mr Stark also said internal Bundesbank audits made through the end of 2003 had not examined whether payments, within the bank's legal and contract rules, made for lectures were seen as appropriate. "This decision was up to the individual board members" he said.
Germany's highest-paid civil servant, who earns €350,000 a year, has since said he was "deeply sorry" for creating the impression he was not living up to ethical standards. Later, Mr Welteke and the Bundesbank paid back the cost of the bill.
