BUNDESTAG VOTE Bribe admission reported

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33251, 14 June 1973, Page 17

BUNDESTAG VOTE Bribe admission reported

(N.Z.P. A.-Reuter— Copyright) BONN, June 13. West Germany’s “bought votes’’ scandal appeared to be taking firm root today, with a former Bundestag (Lower House) deputy reported as admitting he was bribed, and an expected move for a Parliamentary inquiry.

The Munich magazine, “Quick,” said last night that the bribery confession

involved 48-year-old selfadmitted double agent, Julius Steiner. The magazine’s editorial director, Mr Heinz von Nouhouys, issued a press statement quoting the former Opposition deputy as saying that a leading figure in Chancellor Willy Brandt’s Social Democrats (S.P.D.) had given him a 50,000 marks (about $13,000) bribe. In return for this. Mr Steiner cast a blank vote in a crucial no-confidence motion in April. 1972, when Mr Brandt, his Parliamentary power base eroded by defections, survived by two votes, the statement said. Mr Steiner’s abstention accounts for one of these votes. But the identity of the second member of the Opposition Christian Democrats (C.D.U.) to have aided Mr Brandt is still a mystery. Next Friday, the C.D.U. is expected to force the Bundestag to set up a Parliamentary inquiry to investigate the scandal. The S.P.D. has reacted to Mr Steiner's allegations with strong condemnations. Early yesterday, the party’s Parliamentary group expressed its full confidence in Mr Karl Wienand, the S.P.D. chief whip, who is alleged to have bribed Steiner. Mr Wienand has admitted meeting the former C.D.U. deputy, who claims to have spied simultaneously for East and West Germany, but denied there was any talk of money.