The President of the Bundesbank, Mr Ernst Welteke, is facing calls to resign after it emerged that he let a bank pay a hotel bill of nearly € 8,000. Derek Scally reports from Berlin.

Der Spiegel magazine reported yesterday that the costs of Mr Welteke's visit to Berlin to launch the euro in December 2001 were paid for by Dresdner Bank.

Mr Welteke, who earns 350,000 per annum as Bundesbank chief, said he saw nothing wrong in letting Dresdner pay after he appeared at their launch party.

"When someone invites me to take part in an event, then I assume they will also cover the costs," said Mr Welteke in Punchestown on Saturday.

Mr Welteke stayed with his wife for four nights in the €1,717-a-night "Pariser Platz" Suite of the Adlon Hotel, adjacent to the Brandenburg Gate.

A room costing €263 was reserved for Mr Welteke's two sons, aged three and 25, as well as his older son's girlfriend.

Mr Welteke participated in a euro-launch party on New Year's Eve organised by Dresdner Bank, alongside the German finance minister, Mr Hans Eichel.

The hotel bill for Mr Welteke's five-day stay in Berlin, totalling €7,661.20, including the mini-bar and restaurant bills, was paid by Dresdner Bank.

The hotel gave the bank a 20 per cent discount.

Der Spiegel said the bill came to light after German tax authorities checked bills filed by Dresdner Bank. Mr Welteke said he had not yet declared the trip to the tax authorities as he had yet to file his 2002 return.

The Bundesbank head said that while the main claim of the story was true, the report contained "many inaccuracies" and that he was the victim of a smear campaign by Der Spiegel.

The magazine quoted unnamed finance ministry officials as saying Mr Welteke had been warned in the past to stop accepting private gifts and perks.

"There are other stories," said one anonymous ministry official.

Opposition politicians have said Mr Welteke should consider his position as the head of the independent Bundesbank after the weekend revelation.

"Until the issue is cleared up the Bundesbank president should take a leave of absence," said Mr Markus Söder, general secretary of the opposition Christian Social Democrats (CSU).

"Taking favours is not something the Bundesbank president should be doing or even coming close to doing."

Mr Rainer Wend, the Social Democratic (SPD) head of the parliament's economics committee said: "When ordinary people read about this it's only going to confirm their prejudices. That's more than regrettable."