German president apologizes for failing to disclose private loan
BERLIN. December 23. KAZINFORM Embattled German President Christian Wulff apologized on Thursday for not disclosing a half-million-euro (650,000 U.S. dollars) private home loan he received from the wife of a wealthy friend in 2008, Xinhua reported.
"I'm sorry about it," Wulff said in a televised address, adding that he failed to realize how "irritating the private finance arrangement" was for the public.
Criticism intensified as Wulff admitted to having failed to disclose the private home loan on favorable terms he received while serving as the state premier of the northern German state of Lower Saxony between 2003 and 2010.
When questioned by regional opposition lawmakers last year if he had business relations with his friend Egon Geerkens, a businessman, Wulff said he hadn't, failing to mention the loan from Geerkens' wife to buy a house.
Earlier on Thursday, prosecutors in Hannover said they had received several complaints against Wulff, asking for corruption investigation into the loan or the president's stays in vacation homes of wealthy friends. But prosecutors said they found no evidence of criminal offense.
Wulff had said he should have acknowledged the home loan sooner despite having nothing to hide because the matter was private, saying he regrets that his handling of the issue may have created the "wrong impression."