Moellemann affair
December 8, 2009
A court in the German capital has found the Free Democrats (FDP) guilty of collecting illegal contributions in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia between 1996 and 2002, and fined the party 3.5 million euros ($5.2 million).
In doing so, the court rejected an appeal by the FDP, which is the junior coalition party in government with Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats.
It also found that the party's former deputy leader, Juergen Moellemann, had collected donations to his party in installments to avoid political contribution laws. Moellemann died in 2003 after a skydiving mishap, believed to have been suicide.
Moellemann had also wrongly declared the origin of many donations, the court said.
The court was upholding a fine imposed on the FDP in July by Germany's lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, which then sought to penalize the Free Democrats 4.3 million euros, or double the amount of the contributions in question.
In 2002, when the illegal monies were first uncovered, the FDP deposited 873,500 euros into parliament administration accounts as a precautionary measure. This sum had already been taken into account in the Tuesday's court ruling.
The verdict comes after a five-year investigation into the illegal contributions, in what has come to be known as the Moellemann affair.
The FDP, which is currently led by Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, can still appeal the verdict.
dfm/AFP/AP
Editor: Susan Houlton