German trial for kohl-era figure

A Canadian judge has turned down a last-minute appeal by a German businessman against his extradition on corruption charges.

一位加拿大法官拒绝了一位获贪污指控德国商人的最后引渡申请。

Karleinz Schreiber has been fighting extradition for almost 10 years

Karlheinz Schreiber, 75, is wanted for tax evasion（逃税，漏税）, bribery and fraud（欺诈，欺骗） in Germany, and has been fighting extradition（引渡逃犯） for nearly 10 years.

He figured in a fund-raising scandal involving ex-Chancellor Helmut Kohl.

Canadian media say Mr Schreiber, who denies wrongdoing, was on a flight headed for Germany as of Sunday night.

He had appealed at a court in Ontario against his imminent（逼近的，即将发生的） extradition.

Canadian case

Mr Schreiber is accused in Germany of evading taxes on millions of dollars from commissions for arms deals.

He was also at the centre of a scandal surrounding the funding of Helmut Kohl's Christian Democrat Party, the CDU.

The scandal began with the emergence of a series of undeclared contributions given by Mr Schreiber.

Mr Schreiber, who has both German and Canadian citizenship, was arrested under a German warrant in Canada in 1999. He was released on bail in 2007.

In a separate, Canadian case, he has been testifying at a public inquiry about his financial dealings with that country's former Prime Minister, Brian Mulroney.

Mr Mulroney has acknowledged taking C$225,000 (£125,000) from Mr Schreiber in return for promoting a project for a German company, though he denies Mr Schreiber's claim that the money was exchanged while he was still in office.

Public hearings on the case ended last week.