The former German chancellor, Dr Helmut Kohl (70), has agreed to pay a stiff fine to end a criminal fraud inquiry against him over secret cash donations he accepted while in power, his lawyers said yesterday.
While his reputation as a major European statesman has already been tarnished by a slush funds scandal which plunged his opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU) into crisis, the move prevents Dr Kohl from facing trial and a criminal record.
Dr Kohl's lawyer firm said
Dr Kohl had agreed to an offer by public prosecutors in Bonn under which they would drop a 13month criminal inquiry in return for a DM300,000 (£120,803) fine.
It added that Dr Kohl, hero of German reunification, had already signalled last October that he would agree to such a move "to avoid a lengthy legal process that would be a great burden to him and his family".
While the accord removes the most direct legal threat facing Dr Kohl, the leader of a separate parliamentary investigation into whether the donations constituted bribes said Dr Kohl now had no reason to withhold the names of donors whose identity he has protected.
"We would ask him to testify again," said Mr Volker Neumann, of the ruling Social Democrats.