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6 months ago
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The lead candidate of the German far-right party AfD, Maximilian Krah, will not be investigated in addition to his former assistant over allegations of Chinese espionage, but other preliminary investigations into alleged bribery are ongoing, Euractiv has learned.
Last week, one of Maximilian Krah’s parliamentary assistants was arrested for the suspicion of working for the Chinese intelligence service.
On Friday (3 May) Euractiv learned that Krah will not be investigated together in the espionage case of his assistant.
The Federal Public Prosecutor has confirmed to Krah that the investigation of “suspicion of acting as an intelligence agent for a Chinese intelligence service in a particularly serious case” does not include Krah himself, instead only his former assistant is being investigated.
However, the German authorities are continuing their preliminary investigations into suspicions that Krah is being bribed by Russia and China. This work is carried out by a regional prosecutor, which confirmed to Euractiv that two cases unrelated to his assistant are still subject to preliminary investigation.
Before any official investigation can start, the European Parliament would have to lift Krah’s immunity as a member of the European Parliament.
Last week, the authorities confirmed that a pre-investigation into Krah was initiated to find out “whether there is indeed an initial suspicion of criminal conduct involving bribery of a member of parliament.”
This pre-investigation began after media reports of Krah’s close relations with China and revelations by the Czech intelligence service that he was suspected of receiving money via a media outlet accused of being a Russian propaganda tool appeared.
For Krah, the news came “as expected and routine given the press situation.”
“We are still in the realm of assumptions and insinuations,” he stated on the social platform X at the time.
[Edited by Aurélie Pugnet / Chris Powers ]
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