Berlin - Dr Helmut Kohl said yesterday he was mortgaging his own house as part of a $3 million fundraising drive to pay fines looming over his German conservative party for a scandal he caused by accepting illegal campaign donations.
Holding his first news conference since the scandal broke in November, the former chancellor said he had collected 5.9 million marks ($3 million) and would donate 700,000 marks of his own to offset a looming 6.3 million-mark fine from parliament.