Kohl adviser declines to comment

Efforts to expose the sleaze of the Kohl era faltered yesterday as the man who handled the dirty money refused to testify before a special parliamentary committee.

Horst Weyrauch, 67, the Christian Democrat party accountant in charge of Helmut Kohl's slush funds, promised last month to make a clean breast of his involvement. "I've become smarter since then," Mr Weyrauch said yesterday, beaming in the throng of cameras. He then told the parliamentary committee that he would not be answering any questions for fear of incriminating himself before a criminal investigation into his affairs.

Mr Weyrauch will be summoned again next Thursday. MPs are composing questions that Mr Weyrauch can answer without risk of jail .If he remains silent, he can be arrested.