Prosecutors check new claims against German President Wulff

Feb 8, 2012, 16:21 GMT

Berlin - Prosecutors said Wednesday they were studying new allegations that German President Christian Wulff may have received a free holiday from a businessman in 2007 while he was a regional leader.

Wulff, a conservative, has rejected calls to resign since mid-December, when allegations first arose of loans from wealthy friends while he was premier of Lower Saxony state.

The president has already apologized for failing in 2010 to disclose that he borrowed money from the wife of another rich friend to buy a home.

Surveys show the mainly ceremonial president's popularity sinking, but Chancellor Angela Merkel, who nominated him, has so far been unscathed.

Wulff's lawyer, Gernot Lehr, said the president confirmed last month that he stayed four nights on Sylt, a German island, in autumn 2007 with his wife and a businessman friend, David Groenewold.

Lehr said Groenewold paid the vacation party's overall bill while booking, then Wulff paid his share in cash to Groenewold in the hotel lobby as he settled up his additional room charges.

Through his lawyer, Groenewold denied the report, in the mass circulation daily Bild, that there was a cover-up attempt.

'There wasn't even the hint of an attempt by my client to suppress it,' said lawyer Christian-Oliver Moser.

Wulff's former spokesman, Olaf Glaeseker, is under formal investigation over claims he took a bribe from another businessman.