German prosecutors search ex-President's house

BERLIN: German state prosecutors said on Friday they had searched the private home of former president Christian Wulff, who is under investigation over accusations he accepted financial favours.

Wulff, who was Chancellor Angela Merkel's hand-picked choice for the ceremonial post of president, resigned in disgrace on Feb. 17 in a burgeoning scandal over favours linked to his office. He moved to his home near Hanover from Berlin.

A spokesman for the state prosecutors' office in Hanover said that five state police officials and a state prosecutor had searched Wulff's home in a suburb of Hanover on Friday evening. He said they confiscated a computer and other items.

"Herr Wulff was cooperative," the spokesman said of the raid on Wulff's home in Grossburgwedel.

State prosecutors in Hanover, the capital of Lower Saxony where Wulff was state premier before becoming president in 2010, had begun investigating Wulff over accusations he accepted favours from a film producer while state premier.

Wulff has denied the accusations, saying he had reimbursed producer David Groenewold for the costs of a holiday in a luxury hotel in the North Sea resort of Sylt. Groenewold's company had received loan guarantees from Wulff's state government.

Wulff, 52, said he had lost the trust of the German people when he resigned two weeks ago. He has been in the headlines this week after the president's office said Wulff will receive a pension of 199,000 euros ($266,000) a year for life.

There has been a heated debate over whether Wulff is entitled to the pension, which is about five times the average German salary and more than 16 times the average pension.

Before becoming president, Wulff spoke out in favour of cutting the generous lifelong pension for ex-presidents. But after quitting he stayed silent on the issue, while newspaper editorials urged him not to accept it.

Wulff's reputation took a hammering when the Bild newspaper reported he had misled the state parliament about a cheap 500,000 euro ($650,000) home loan from a businessman friend before becoming president.

Last month he admitted making a "grave mistake" by threatening the editor of top-selling Bild with "war" if he published the story about his private financial dealings. (Reuters)