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| Wulf is under pressure for allegedly trying to suppress the story |
Two German
newspapers have reported that German President Christian Wulff tried to prevent
the publication of a newspaper article about a 500,000-euro low-interest
personal loan.
Two
respected German newspapers - the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung and
Süddeutsche Zeitung – said in their reports, published Sunday and Monday
respectively, that President Christian Wulff threatened to break completely
with the mass circulation Bild daily if it went ahead and published information
on Wulff's low-interest personal loan.
Wulff
reportedly phoned Bild editor-in-chief Kai Dieckmann personally on December 12
while on an official tour of the Persian Gulf to complain about what he called
the "unbelieveable story" about his 500,000-euro ($650,000) loan from
a southern German bank. After not reaching Dieckmann, he left a voice message.
Bild itself
has yet to report on the incident, but the two German dailies wrote that Wulff
said Bild was going too far and had "crossed a red line."
The
newspapers said that Wulff finally reached the Bild editor-in-chief later,
expressing regret over his earlier phone call. They also reported that Wulff
had threatened that he might press formal charges. The German newspaper reports
cited no sources for their allegations.
Not illegal
Wulff has
been the subject of a barrage of criticism for arranging his low-interest loan
with the Baden-Württemberg BW Bank.
When he was
still the state premier of Lower Saxony, Wulff borrowed the money from the wife
of a business friend, Egon Geerkens, which he later exchanged for the
low-interest bank loan.
The state
prosecutor's office in Hanover has received about 20 criminal complaints from
private citizens concerning the loan affair, but has said it was not going to
pursue the case further because there was no evidence that a criminal offense
was committed.
Author: Gregg Benzow (dpa,dapd, Reuters, AFP)
Editor: Ben Knight
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