German court finds ex-minister guilty of corruption

A German court today convicted a former senior official of accepting illegal payments and evading taxes in connection with arms deals while serving in the government of former Chancellor Helmut Kohl.

The state court in Augsburg sentenced Holger Pfahls, who was a deputy defence minister, to two years and three months in prison after a trial linked to the slush-fund scandal that disgraced Kohl and his Christian Democratic Union party.