German deputies here in Toronto to question former arms dealer Karlheinz Schreiber said Tuesday it will be difficult to find clear evidence he gave funds to the German Christian Social Union (CSU) party.

"All the information he gave is problematic," Green Party deputy Hans-Christian Stroebele, one of seven deputies on a fact-finding mission here, said on the second day of meetings with Schreiber.

"There are so many contradictions. He didn't keep records, so there is no way to follow the money trail to the CSU," the Bavarian sister party of the Christian Democrats (CDU), the lawmaker said.

A day earlier, Schreiber had told the delegation of German deputies that he had paid at least 510,000 euros (462,000 dollars) in contributions to the CSU, headed by Bavarian premier Edmund Stoiber.

Schreiber's claims pose a potential political bombshell for Stoiber, five months away from Germany's election, with the CDU/CSU alliance currently leading polls, as he now faces questioning over the allegations.

German officials had been seeking information on Schreiber's donation of one million marks (about 600,000 dollars) to then-chancellor Helmut Kohl's CDU in 1991, in connection with the Kohl government's decision to sell arms to Saudi Arabia.

The extradition trial of Schreiber, wanted by Germany on bribery, breach of trust and fiscal charges relating to his work for German defense contractors and aerospace firms, is due to start on June 19.

Schreiber, of Canadian and German nationality, was detained in Toronto in August 1999 and has spent the past three years fighting moves to extradite him.

On Monday, Schreiber also denied giving money to Max Strauss, the son of CSU leader Franz-Joseph Strauss, as alleged, but said it was given to Franz Donnecker, a Munich lawyer and former deputy who acted officially for the CSU.

With acknowledgement to Sapa.