EPP suspect cleared of bribery allegations tied to EU elections

There was no evidence linking the former digital campaign manager of the European People’s Party (EPP) to bribes allegedly received during the 2019 EU election campaign, German prosecutors announced on Monday (13 November), concluding a year-long case that involved a raid of the EPP headquarters in Brussels.

The inquiry honed in on a payment to Mario Voigt (CDU) from a consulting firm that advised the centre-right EPP and its Spitzenkandidat Manfred Weber (CSU) during the 2019 EU election campaign.

Voigt, now the leader of the conservative CDU party in Germany’s regional state of Thuringia, had been in charge of the EPP’s digital campaign and was suspected of bringing on the Thuringian firm in exchange for a bribe.

Voigt consistently denied any wrongdoing.

After months of scrutiny, public prosecutors have now concluded the investigation, confirming on Monday that no evidence had been found that the payment was a bribe.

Voigt welcomed the development. 

“The closure of the investigation now officially confirms that there was and is nothing to the allegations made against me,” the CDU lawmaker said in a statement.

The prosecutor’s conclusion marked the resolution of an eye-catching investigation, ongoing for almost a year, which included searches of Voigt’s residence, office, and most prominently, the EPP headquarters in Brussels in April this year.

It also comes as a relief for Weber as the raid had caused internal dismay within the EPP in view of Voigt’s close ties to the EPP chief.

The timing of the revelations was also considered problematic in the run-up to several elections and amidst investigations against MEPs who had allegedly received bribes from the Qatar government and others.

[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]

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