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Thursday, Jan 5, 2012 3:27 PM UTC

German Paper Contradicts President In Call Scandal

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German Paper Contradicts President In Call ScandalFILE - In this Sept. 3, 2010 file photo German President Christian Wulff reacts during a joint news conference with the President of Poland, Bronislaw Komorowski, at the Bellevue palace in Berlin, Germany. Germany's biggest-selling newspaper is challenging an assertion by the country's president that he didn't try to prevent it publishing a report on a controversial private loan. President Christian Wulff has faced intense pressure since it emerged that he left an angry message on the voicemail of Bild newspaper's editor-in-chief Kai Diekmann Dec. 12 - the day before the story appeared. Wulff insisted in a television interview Wednesday Jan. 5, 2012 he hadn't tried to block the report and had merely asked for it to be delayed by a day so he could respond. But Diekmann expressed "astonishment" about that in a letter to Wulff on Thursday, seen by the AP. He says Bild wants to publish the text of the message but would like Wulff's approval "in the spirit of transparency you have spoken of." (AP Photo/Michael Sohn, File)(Credit: AP)

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s president and its biggest-selling newspaper traded blows Thursday on whether he tried to prevent it from publishing a report on a controversial private loan, adding to the embattled head of state’s troubles.

President Christian Wulff has faced intense pressure to explain himself since it emerged that he left an angry message Dec. 12 on the voicemail of Bild newspaper’s editor-in-chief Kai Diekmann — the day before the story appeared.

Wulff insisted in a television interview Wednesday that he hadn’t tried to block the report and had merely asked for it to be delayed a day so that “we could talk about it, so that it could be correct.”

But Diekmann expressed “astonishment” about that in a letter Thursday to Wulff. He wrote that Bild had already agreed to a one-day delay on Dec. 11, and that Wulff’s spokesman — whom the president fired just before Christmas without giving reasons — provided and then retracted responses before Wulff called Diekmann.

He said Bild wants to publish the text of the message “in order to clear up misunderstandings regarding the actual motivation and contents of your call” and asked for Wulff’s approval “in the spirit of transparency you have spoken of.”

But Wulff made clear to Diekmann later Thursday that he didn’t want the transcript published.

“The words spoken in an exceptionally emotional situation were meant exclusively for you and for no one else,” he wrote in a letter released by his office. He noted that Diekmann had already accepted an apology from him in mid-December “and the matter was dealt with between us. From my point of view, it should stay that way.”

Wulff stuck to his version of events Thursday, saying he had seen “no obvious reason” why Bild couldn’t wait another day with the story. The president was on a visit to the Persian Gulf at the time.

The president noted that he had said in Wednesday’s interview that the call to Diekmann was “a serious mistake that I am sorry for and apologize for.”

Wulff was Chancellor Angela Merkel’s candidate for the presidency and is a former deputy leader of her conservative party. A resignation would be embarrassing and distracting for Merkel as she tries to tame the eurozone debt crisis.

According to Bild, Wulff left the message after failing to get through to Diekmann, who was on a business trip.

Bild reported Dec. 13 that Wulff received a euro500,000 ($650,000) private loan from the wife of a wealthy businessman and friend, apparently at below market rates, in 2008. He used the money to buy a house.

At the time, he was governor of Lower Saxony state. But months before he became president in 2010, regional opposition lawmakers asked Wulff if he had business relations with his longtime friend Egon Geerkens, a former jeweler and investor. He said he hadn’t, failing to mention the substantial loan from Geerkens’ wife.

Prosecutors say they see no evidence of a criminal offense regarding the loan and won’t investigate. But Germany’s largely ceremonial president is supposed to serve as a moral authority, and critics have raised questions over Wulff’s integrity and judgment.

Before Christmas, Wulff apologized for not disclosing the loan in 2010. That appeared to calm matters until news of the call emerged this week.

Geir Moulson

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