Helmut Kohl, seventy on 3 April, while admitting to his ‘mistake’ in having operated secretly donated funds to the tune of almost one million dollars between 1993 and 1998, has yet to show any real contrition or remorse. On the contrary, in the swashbuckling manner of a seasoned show-boater he all but preened himself on his money-pulling magnetism, while still under investigation for precisely that.
It left the Christian Democrats (CDU) squirming. As compensation for the fines incurred by Kohl’s malfeasance, they accepted their former chairman’s financial gift with gritted teeth, quickly adding that ‘the loss of credibility cannot be redressed with money alone.’ There lies the rub.
