German ex-minister admits bribe

Mr Pfahls said he accepted a 1m-euro bribe from an arms dealer

A former top German defence official on trial over an arms deal with Saudi Arabia has admitted accepting bribes.

Holger Pfahls, who was a deputy defence secretary in Helmut Kohl's government, told the Augsburg court he had accepted about one million euros (£700,000).

His confession related to an arms deal with the US - not the 1991 sale of 36 armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia in which he allegedly took bribes.

He said he received the money in 1990 from arms dealer Karlheinz Schreiber.

Mr Schreiber is currently fighting a German call for him to be extradited from Canada.

Mr Pfahls, 62, is accused of receiving 3.8m marks (1.94m euros; £1.3m) in bribes from Mr Schreiber in 1991 in the Saudi arms case.

Prosecutors say the money was paid into a Swiss bank account during the 1991 Gulf War for helping German engineering giant Thyssen to win the contract.

Mr Pfahls was extradited to Germany from France in January.

He disappeared without trace in the Far East in 1999 and was on the run for five years before being apprehended.

He was head of German counter-intelligence before becoming state secretary for armaments at the defence ministry.