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Kohl pays fine to end fraud inquiry

BERLIN, Germany -- Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl has paid a fine in return for a criminal fraud investigation being dropped.

Kohl met a court deadline for the 300,000-mark ($130,100) fine to be transferred by Friday, his spokesman said.

Prosecutors' spokesman Friedrich Apostel said on Friday the money had been paid and the investigation closed.

The fine will be evenly divided between the court and a charity, Reuters news agency said.

Kohl admitted breaking party funding rules by accepting $1 million of donations during his 16-year rule.

However, he rejected allegations he was open to bribery or defrauded his party.

He has refused to name the donors.

'Great burden'

The Bonn court announced in March it had agreed to drop the probe against Kohl on payment of a fine because of a number of mitigating factors.

It concluded he had not personally enriched himself through the donations and took into account his 50 years of public service in German politics.

Kohl will have no criminal record despite paying the fine. His lawyers said the former chancellor had agreed to the fine "to avoid a lengthy legal process that would be a great burden to him and his family."

Although Kohl will not face trial, his reputation as the politician who reunified Germany has been tarnished by the scandal from which his Christian Democratic Union has yet to recover.

The ruling Social Democrats said in March that the shelving of criminal proceedings meant Kohl must now reveal who the secret donors were, while a parliamentary investigation into the scandal wants to call him to testify again.







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• Kohl treasurer 'finds' 1m marks
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• Kohl escapes fraud charges
March 2, 2001
• Kohl to pay fine to end fraud inquiry
February 8, 2001
• Kohl wins key backing
January 25, 2001

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• Christian Democratic Union (in German)

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