German presidential scandal widens to two opposition figures

Feb 2, 2012, 18:35 GMT

Berlin - A scandal in which Germany's president has been accused of obtaining cut-price loans widened Thursday, with a current and a former leader of opposition parties also accused of accepting favours.

Prosecutors say they have found no wrong-doing by President Christian Wulff, but have begun a bribery inquiry into an organizer of events, Manfred Schmidt, who gave free vacations to a former Wulff aide.

Cem Ozdemir, co-leader of the Greens, told Berlin's Taz newspaper that Schmidt offered him a ticket to a Barcelona football match last year. Ozdemir said he paid Schmidt for the ticket and was unaware that its true price was far higher than Schmidt had said.

Kurt Beck, premier of Rhineland Palatinate state, confirmed through a spokesman that he accepted a 4,000-euro (5,150-dollar) flight in an executive jet from Schmidt in 2008 while he was leader of the Social Democratic Party (SPD).

Chancellor Angela Merkel's party, which nominated Wulff for office, has faced embarrassment since mid-December as the media have put the president under the spotlight for financing a house with cheap loans. The new disclosures widen the controversy into the opposition camp for the first time.

Peter Altmaier, the parliamentary whip of Merkel's Christian Democrats, said Beck's attacks on Wulff smacked of hypocrisy.

Schmidt has a business that organizes parties attended by political celebrities, with business clients footing the bill. Wulff's ex-spokesman, Olaf Glaeseker, is also under investigation.