ABSTRACT
Germany. The managing director of Flick Corporation had been granted a lucrative tax exemption by ministers of the Frei Demokratische Partei (FDP) following donations to that party, as well as others (excluding the Greens) advocating a political environment conducive to business interests (McKey 2003, 58). At the end of 1999, former Chancellor Kohl was charged with having received undeclared donations to the Christliche Demokratische Union in a secret bank account. Amongst others, donations had been received from an arms dealer, linked with the sale of tanks to Saudi Arabia. Some indications of corruption—or at least, illegal party financing in return for the acquisition of political protection—also emerged in the sale of an oil refinery to Elf Aquitaine, aircraft and helicopters to Canada and Thailand, as well as the sale at bargain prices of railway worker housing to a company that had financed the CDU. Kohl admitted undeclared donations of more than 2 million German marks, but denied that favors had been exchanged (McKay 2003).
