Two weeks ago, a longtime associate of Maximilian Krah, AfD’s top candidate for the European elections, was arrested on suspicion of espionage. Offices in the EU Parliament in Brussels have now been searched because of the Krahs case.
In the espionage trial against his employee Jian G., Krah is listed as a witness, not a defendant, “Zeit” reports, citing the German Federal Attorney General. The AfD politician denies having anything to do with his employee’s espionage affair. G., born in China, is strongly suspected of having spied for the People’s Republic of China.
Employees in custody
Specifically, the federal attorney general accuses him of “acting as an agent for a foreign secret service in a particularly serious case.” He is said to have forwarded internal discussions about motions in parliament to employees of a Chinese secret service, among other things. The 43-year-old has been in custody since the end of April.
The federal attorney general received permission from the European Parliament for the raid on the Altiero Spinelli building in the Belgian capital. It cannot be ruled out that the search will provide new details about the espionage case, which also accuses Krah himself. As a MEP, Maximilian Krah is protected by parliamentary immunity. Only when this is lifted can an investigation be initiated against him.
The member of the AfD’s federal board of directors is himself in the spotlight due to possible connections with Russia and China. In April, the Dresden Public Prosecutor’s Office launched a preliminary investigation into suspected bribery in connection with Chinese and Russian payments.
Scandal overshadows election campaign
The spy scandal overshadowed the AfD’s election campaign for the June 9 elections. The party tries to limit the damage. After Jian G.’s arrest, Maximilian Krah abstained from campaigning for a short time. On May 1, he performed again in his home state of Saxony in the cities of Chemnitz and Dresden. In the ‘Welt’, Krah called on his employee to leave the AfD. “G. must leave the AfD immediately, if only to prevent further damage. If he does not do so, a party expulsion process is inevitable,” the politician said.
The FPÖ supported Krah in the case. He sees the AfD as a “victim,” FPÖ-EU delegation leader Harald Vilimsky said recently, referring to the moment of the arrest of Krah’s employee – just a few weeks before the European elections. “This story here stinks beyond belief,” Vilimsky said. As recently as January, Krah had been a guest at an event organized by the Identitarian Movement in Austria, which the Office for the Protection of the Constitution has classified as right-wing extremist, and in February he took part in an event in Vienna at Vilimsky’s invitation .
Source: Krone
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