Memoirs published posthumously: What Schäuble knew about Kohl's "slush fund" in the Union faction

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The CDU politician Wolfgang Schäuble died on Christmas 2023

Photo: Boris Roessler / dpa

In connection with the CDU donation affair surrounding Helmut Kohl, which was exposed in 1999, there was also a "slush fund" in the Union faction, according to CDU politician Wolfgang Schäuble, who died in December. It was only afterwards that it became clear to him "that a parliamentary group fund that I had to help manage as parliamentary manager was also part of the comprehensive system of slush funds," wrote Schäuble, who died on Christmas, in his posthumously published memoirs. The donation scandal was about an illegal donation practice by the CDU in the 1980s and 1990s. Schäuble's statements can hardly be verified - important actors such as Kohl are no longer alive.

Kohl apparently spoke jokingly of a “war chest.”

Schäuble was parliamentary managing director of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group from 1981 to 1984. Kohl was chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group from December 1976 to October 1982 and Federal Chancellor from 1982 to 1998.

"Kohl appeared to have created the account during his time as parliamentary group leader, as a reserve outside of the party finances in the Adenauer House, and wanted to avoid that too many people found out about its existence," wrote Schäuble. He added: "The attractiveness of this 'money storage' arose from the simple fact that the Federal Audit Office at that time did not yet check the parliamentary group's financing." Kohl took advantage of this loophole and half-jokingly spoke of his "war chest."

Kohl had admitted that he had accepted around two million deutschmarks for the party in the 1990s without reporting it as a donation. He never revealed the names of the donors. Kohl justified his silence by saying that he had given the donors his word of honor. It is still unclear where the money came from. The donation scandal plunged the party into the worst crisis in its history. In the turmoil of the CDU donations affair and after statements about a 100,000 mark cash donation, Schäuble resigned as CDU leader and chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in February 2000. Angela Merkel became party leader a few months later, and in 2005, as Chancellor, she made Schäuble Minister of the Interior, and four years later, Finance Minister. Schäuble held this office for two electoral terms.

muk/dpa