Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder won a court order yesterday upholding a legal injunction to silence a political opponent who criticized his appointment to a top job at a Russian-led gas consortium.

Guido Westerwelle, leader of the opposition Free Democrats (FDP), had questioned the propriety of Schroeder's appointment as supervisory board chairman of the North European Gas Pipeline company (NEGP) shortly after he left office last autumn. After Schroeder won a gagging order last month, Westerwelle challenged it, citing his right to freedom of opinion.

However, a court in the northern city of Hamburg rejected Westerwelle's objection, meaning that if the FDP leader repeats his criticism, he could face a fine of up to 250,000 euros (US$300,000) coincidentally, the same amount of money Schroeder will be paid annually in his new role at the consortium.

The dispute is not the first time Schroeder has used law courts to muzzle his detractors. In 2002 he was granted an injunction by a Hamburg court against a news agency to stop it repeating a suggestion that he dyed his hair.

While he was chancellor, Schroeder and Russian President Vladimir Putin helped to launch the consortium headed by Russian gas giant Gazprom for a Baltic Sea pipeline to supply gas to Germany, a plan that was heavily criticized by Poland.

In December, less than a month after leaving office, Schroeder accepted the job on the supervisory board of the pipeline consortium. Critics said his move was too quick and risked blurring the line between politics and business. Westerwelle had first described the post as "problematic" and he launched a fresh attack when Schroeder went to Moscow to begin the job last week.

Domestic criticism of Schroeder mounted at the weekend after it emerged that shortly before he left office, the government had approved a loan guarantee to NEGP worth one billion euros (US$1.2 billion).

Schroeder told yesterday's edition of German business daily Handelsblatt that he knew nothing about the approval. Gazprom has said it would not be making use of the guarantee.

The pipeline is 51 per cent owned by Russian gas giant Gazprom, with German firms E.ON and BASF both holding 24.5 per cent stakes in the project through their gas units.

Source: China Daily