Liberal Party fined for former campaign donation scandal
July 2, 2009
The president of the German parliament, Norbert Lammert, announced the penalty Thursday, putting an end to an investigation which has taken nearly five years. The 4.3 million euro ($6.4 million) penalty is the highest fine the German parliament has ever issued.
The donation money scandal is commonly known as the Moellemann Affair, named after the controversial politician Juergen Moellemann. At the time, he was head of the party in Germany's most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW).
According to Lammert, the NRW Free Democrat Party is being penalized for breaching party law between 1996 and 2002. Moellemann reportedly collected funds from political donors, but later deposited them under false names in the party's accounts. The names of the donors were never disclosed.
Moellemann, an avid sky diver, died when his parachute failed to open in a June 2003 jump. There were speculations that the accident may have been suicide, but these were never confirmed.
Campaign funds will take a hit
In 2002, when the illegal monies were first uncovered, the Liberal party deposited 873,500 Euros into parliament administration accounts as a precautionary measure. The party expected the sanctions to be around 2.6 million euros in total. Now, the government has charged them three times the amount of the original donations.
And the fine couldn't have come at a worse time. Like all German parties, the FDP is in the midst of its campaign for the up-coming September elections.
The party's treasurer, Hermann Otto Solms, said that the FDP was prepared for the decision. "The party's ability to act and campaign properly shouldn't be affected," he said.
However, the Liberals have announced that they will be going over the details of the penalty with a fine tooth comb and if possible will appeal the decision.
kj/ap/dpa
Editor: Michael Lawton