German prosecutors are expected to start criminal proceedings tomorrow against the former chancellor, Dr Helmut Kohl, on the basis that there is a reasonable suspicion that he is guilty of embezzling secret donations to his Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Dr Kohl is not accused of benefiting personally from the donations but he is suspected of misusing funds by failing to channel them through official party accounts.
The prosecutors are understood to have based their suspicion of embezzlement on the former chancellor's admission that he received almost £1 million in cash from anonymous donors between 1993 and 1997. Dr Kohl, who was chairman of his party for a quarter of a century and chancellor for 16 years, has not made any statement about funds he may have received before 1993.
The President of the Bundestag, Mr Wolfgang Thierse, has the power to halt the investigation before tomorrow but, as a member of the governing Social Democrats, he has no intention of doing so.
"It is quite clear what the legal situation is regarding Helmut Kohl's admissions of anonymous donations. It contravenes the requirement for transparency as laid out in the Basic Law," Mr Thierse told the news magazine Der Spiegel this week.
Dr Kohl has repeatedly refused to name the donors, ignoring pleas from the present CDU leadership to come clean in the interests of the party. The former chancellor insists he cannot break promises he gave to donors that they would remain anonymous. But his critics suspect that the real reason for Dr Kohl's silence is that some of the money he received had not been declared by the donors for tax purposes.
Prosecutors in Frankfurt are investigating three anonymous legacies worth more than £5 million that the CDU received from Switzerland and Liechtenstein between 1989 and 1996. A Liechtenstein-based lawyer close to Dr Kohl organised two of the transfers but the origin of the donations remains unknown.
The controversy over Dr Kohl's secret accounts has sparked a bitter row within the Christian Democrats, with younger members calling on the leadership to sever links with their former leader. Dr Kohl's allies are especially angry with the party's general secretary, Ms Angela Merkel, who has accused the former chancellor of damaging the Christian Democrats in advance of two important state elections next year.
Dr Kohl could face a charge of breach of trust if it can be proved his action has exposed the CDU to potential financial damage - for example to financial penalties for having violated funding rules. The breach of trust charge carries heavy fines and in some cases a suspended jail sentence.