Germany's opposition Christian Democrats yesterday washed their hands of their former leader, Dr Helmut Kohl, demanding that he name secret contributors to party funds and declaring his era finally over.
As state prosecutors in Bonn prepared to begin a criminal investigation into the former chancellor's use of secret fund-raising accounts, the Christian Democrats' general secretary, Ms Angela Merkel, issued a bitter attack on Dr Kohl.
"Kohl's actions have damaged the party. His day is irretrievably over. The party must learn to walk and to take on our political opponents without the old war horse, as Helmut Kohl often liked to call himself," she wrote in an open letter published on the front page of yesterday's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
Dr Kohl has admitted he channelled up to DM2 million through secret accounts between 1993 and 1998 but denies that the anonymous donations influenced government decisions.
A parliamentary inquiry is investigating whether the secret accounts were in breach of a legal requirement that political parties identify donors who give more than DM 20,000.
A meeting of the Christian Democratic leadership yesterday called on Dr Kohl to name the donors in order to limit the political damage the scandal is causing to the party. The former chancellor has refused to name names on the basis that he accepted the money on the basis of confidentiality but Ms Merkel yesterday poured scorn on this argument.
"It may be acceptable to honour your word when a legal activity is involved but not when it involves an illegal matter. The credibility of Kohl, the credibility of the Christian Democrats and the credibility of political parties is at stake," Ms Merkel wrote in her open letter.
Prosecutors indicated yesterday that they are likely to initiate a criminal investigation against Dr Kohl next week which could lead to charges of fraud, embezzlement and money laundering. Among those believed to have made secret contributions to party funds are arms dealers, property developers and manufacturers.
Investigators are also looking at a deal with Elf Aquitaine, a French oil company that invested heavily in the former East Germany following German unification. A number of files relating to the deal have disappeared from the chancellery and confusion surrounds the whereabouts of other files relating to party dealings.
The Christian Democrats' mounting frustration with their former leader's refusal to come clean about the accounts became clear yesterday when the party announced that the former chancellor would not play a part in an election campaign in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein next month.
Dr Kohl expected to launch the campaign, which party strategists hoped would wrest control of the state from Chancellor Gerhard Schroder's Social Democrats.
Mr Schroder has been relishing his old adversary's difficulties and the chancellor's popularity has soared in recent weeks following a succession of popular measures. Mass-circulation newspapers were yesterday characterising Mr Schroder as Father Christmas after he announced a huge tax give-away that will benefit business and wage-earners alike.
