Kiep served as federal treasurer of the CDU from 1971 to 1992.
During his tenure, the party was involved in several financial scandals.
Shortly after taking over, Kiep brought in economist Uwe Lüthje as general agent and public accountant Horst Weyrauch as a financial consultant.
Together, the three started an elaborate system aimed at accumulating funding for the party.
The Staatsbürgerliche Vereinigung 1954 e.
V. (de) was used by major companies to donate money to the CDU anonymously, while the donations were fully tax deductible due to the Vereinigung being considered non-profit.
Just in the election year 1972, 30 million Deutsche Mark are said to have been accumulated in this fashion.
Over the course of its existence, the Vereinigung gave 214 million Deutsche Marks to political parties between 1969 and 1980.
The procedure was made public during the uncovering of the Flick affair in the early 1980s.
Kiep was ultimately accused of having amassed 18.5 million Deutsche Marks in illegal donations for the CDU, evading nine million Deutsche Marks in taxes.
For his role, he was sentenced to a payment of 675,000 Deutsche Marks in 1991, but the verdict was revoked a year later by the Federal Court of Justice.

In 1995, the public prosecution department of the city of Augsburg obtained the calendars of Karlheinz Schreiber, a German arms dealer.
With the help of the documents, the persecutors were able to decipher a code of aliases and money movements, leading to Kiep.
On 4 November 1999, the prosecution office issued an arrest warrant against Kiep, charging him with having accepted a payment of one million Deutsche Marks from Schreiber in 1991 without subjecting the money to taxes.
After turning himself in a day later, Kiep declared during his interrogation that he had accepted the money, with Horst Weyrauch present, as a donation for the CDU.
This started the CDU donations scandal, in which a system of illegal accounts was uncovered.
On 30 November, former chancellor Helmut Kohl took full responsibility for the accounts and later admitted to having personally accepted a total sum of up to two million Deutsche Marks from anonymous sponsors, which were not declared.
As a consequence of the illegal proceedings, the CDU was sentenced to a payment of 41 million Deutsche Marks by President of the Bundestag Wolfgang Thierse on 15 February 2000.
Kiep was ultimately involved in several lawsuits concerning tax evasion.
One was closed in January 2004, after Kiep paid a monetary condition of 75,000 Euro.
In another trial in 2001, he was sentenced to pay 45,000 Deutsche Marks.
In early 2004, Kiep accepted a sentence of 40,500 Euro for a false statement given at the enquiry commission on the donations scandal.
Kiep served as federal treasurer of the CDU from 1971 to 1992. During his tenure, the party was involved in several financial scandals. Shortly after taking over, Kiep brought in economist Uwe Lüthje as general agent and public accountant Horst Weyrauch as a financial consultant. Together, the three started an elaborate system aimed at accumulating funding for the party. The Staatsbürgerliche Vereinigung 1954 e.V. (de) was used by major companies to donate money to the CDU anonymously, while the donations were fully tax deductible due to the Vereinigung being considered non-profit. Just in the election year 1972, 30 million Deutsche Mark are said to have been accumulated in this fashion. Over the course of its existence, the Vereinigung gave 214 million Deutsche Marks to political parties between 1969 and 1980. The procedure was made public during the uncovering of the Flick affair in the early 1980s. Kiep was ultimately accused of having amassed 18.5 million Deutsche Marks in illegal donations for the CDU, evading nine million Deutsche Marks in taxes. For his role, he was sentenced to a payment of 675,000 Deutsche Marks in 1991, but the verdict was revoked a year later by the Federal Court of Justice.
In 1995, the public prosecution department of the city of Augsburg obtained the calendars of Karlheinz Schreiber, a German arms dealer. With the help of the documents, the persecutors were able to decipher a code of aliases and money movements, leading to Kiep. On 4 November 1999, the prosecution office issued an arrest warrant against Kiep, charging him with having accepted a payment of one million Deutsche Marks from Schreiber in 1991 without subjecting the money to taxes. After turning himself in a day later, Kiep declared during his interrogation that he had accepted the money, with Horst Weyrauch present, as a donation for the CDU. This started the CDU donations scandal, in which a system of illegal accounts was uncovered. On 30 November, former chancellor Helmut Kohl took full responsibility for the accounts and later admitted to having personally accepted a total sum of up to two million Deutsche Marks from anonymous sponsors, which were not declared. As a consequence of the illegal proceedings, the CDU was sentenced to a payment of 41 million Deutsche Marks by President of the Bundestag Wolfgang Thierse on 15 February 2000. Kiep was ultimately involved in several lawsuits concerning tax evasion. One was closed in January 2004, after Kiep paid a monetary condition of 75,000 Euro. In another trial in 2001, he was sentenced to pay 45,000 Deutsche Marks. In early 2004, Kiep accepted a sentence of 40,500 Euro for a false statement given at the enquiry commission on the donations scandal.
Walther Leisler Kiep