German central bank president Ernst Welteke on Wednesday has stepped aside until an affair over an all-expenses-paid stay in a luxury hotel can be resolved, the bank's board announced.
The Bundesbank said in a statement, issued after a seven-hour crisis board meeting, that it had no reason to call for Welteke to be fired but said vice president Juergen Stark would assume his duties for the time being, effective immediately.
It was not clear how long Welteke would be on hiatus.
The scandal erupted last weekend when Welteke confirmed a magazine report that he had allowed German bank Dresdner Bank to pick up the tab for a four-day stay at the luxurious Hotel Adlon in Berlin for himself, his wife, their son, his son and his son's girlfriend.
He was in the capital for festivities marking the January 1, 2002 introduction of euro banknotes and coins. The bill for the hotel stay was nearly 7,700 euros (9,300 dollars at current rates).
Prosecutors opened a probe this week on suspicion of taking favours and the Bundesbank began its own internal investigation of the affair.
The central bank said in the statement that the start of the criminal probe had prompted its decision to recommend Welteke's temporary replacement, but was careful to note it had stopped short of sacking its chief.
"The evaluation of the issue... does not provide the board sufficient grounds to call for the removal of the president from his office," it said.
"The president of a national bank can only be fired if he has committed a serious offence."
The seven members of the eight-strong board, the only body with the power to remove the president, allowed Welteke to address them Wednesday during the marathon meeting but dismissed him to make their decision.