A court on Tuesday summoned former Chancellor Helmut Kohl and several ex-ministers to testify in a corruption trial that could embarrass Germany's opposition before a planned election. Holger Pfahls, a junior defence minister in Kohl's governments, has admitted accepting millions of deutschemarks in kickbacks from an arms dealer to help smooth the delivery of armoured personnel carriers to Saudi Arabia in the early 1990s.
The court's decision, on a request from Pfahl's defence, comes as the country warms up for an expected election in September which the Christian Democrats (CDU), led by Kohl protege Angela Merkel, are expected to win.
Kohl was forced in 2000 to quit as honorary president of the CDU, which he led for 25 years, after admitting accepting illegal party donations. He has always refused to identify where the money came from.
The scandal helped vault Merkel, a protestant pastor's daughter from the ex-communist East Germany, to the top of a party traditionally run by southern German catholic men. She has worked hard since to put the affair behind the party.
The court said Kohl would be called to the witness box on July 26, along with former Free Democrat (FDP) foreign ministers, Hans-Dietrich Genscher and Klaus Kinkel, and former Christian Social Union (CSU) finance minister Theo Waigel.
Wolfgang Schaeuble, former interior minister and CDU leader prior to Merkel, would be questioned on August 3, it said.
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