Kohl fined, escapes prosecution

The former German chancellor, Helmut Kohl, will not be prosecuted for accepting illegal political donations worth a million dollars while he was in office.

A court in Bonn agreed that prosecutors should abandon their investigation of Mr Kohl and the secret donations to his party, the Christian Democratic Union.

The presiding judge said the decision had been taken because there was no clear prospect of the case leading to a successful prosecution.

Instead, Mr Kohl will pay a fine of just over a-hundred-and-forty-thousand dollars.

Mr Kohl admitted breaking rules on the funding of political parties but persistently refused to name the people who'd given him the money.

But a parliamentary committee is still investigating Mr Kohl's case and a spokesman Frank Hofmann said its work would continue.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service