The Bundesbank said yesterday it will review gratuities that all its board members have received to examine whether any payments or gifts violate central bank rules and its code of ethics.
In Berlin, opposition lawmakers demanded answers to media reports the government is pressuring Bundesbank President Hans Welteke to resign over a bank-financed family holiday because he had resisted gold sales that would fill holes in its budget.
The German central bank in Frankfurt said it will also establish more "concrete and transparent" criteria for what gratuities its board members can accept, following the row over a lavish hotel bill for Mr Welteke paid by a top commercial bank.
In a statement to Reuters, Bundesbank Vice President Juergen Stark said the review of past payments and gifts as well as setting new standards will be conducted jointly by an ethics adviser and its Internal Audit Department.
Mr Welteke temporarily stepped aside last week in the ethics row while state prosecutors examine whether he should have allowed Dresdner Bank, which he regulates, to pay his €7,661 bill for his family's four-day stay at the Adlon Hotel.
Mr Welteke has resisted calls from the government and opposition lawmakers to resign.
The Bundesbank had announced on Friday that it would adopt the European Central Bank's code of ethics and name an ethics adviser. Meanwhile, Mr Stark is filling in for Mr Welteke on the ECB's policy-setting Governing Council.
Bild am Sonntag said on Sunday the Bundesbank had broadened its probe to all eight board members to examine whether any received payments or gifts that violate central bank rules.
Asked to comment on the newspaper report, Mr Stark said in the written statement: "To obtain more objectivity into the appropriateness of reimbursements, payments etc, the board decided on April 9 (Friday) to name an ethics adviser."
"Together with the internal auditor, and against the backdrop of previous practice, his or her task will also include establishing more concrete and transparent criteria on the basis of contracts, Bundesbank law and ethics code," he said.
Mr Stark also said internal Bundesbank audits made through the end of 2003 had not systemically examined whether payments, within the bank's legal and contract rules, made for lectures were seen as appropriate.