Cross posted from: https://feddit.de/post/11432262
German public prosecutors have launched two preliminary investigations into the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD)'s top European parliamentary candidate after media reports suggested that he had received payments from foreign powers.
The public prosecutor said the probe has been launched “as a result of current public reporting,” referring to reports by Spiegel magazine and public broadcaster ZDF last week that Krah had been questioned by the FBI in December 2023 over possible payments from sources close to the Kremlin.
During the interrogation, the US investigators had reportedly confronted Krah with chat messages in which the sanctioned pro-Russian former Ukrainian politician and activist Oleg Voloshyn assured him that the problem with “compensation” for Krah’s “technical expenses” had been solved and that, from May, “it would be as it was before February.”
The words used suggested that such payment arrangements had been long established, suggestions thqat Krah rejected.
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German public prosecutors have launched two preliminary investigations into the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD)'s top European parliamentary candidate after media reports suggested that he had received payments from foreign powers.
A spokesperson for the state prosecutor in the eastern German city of Dresden confirmed to the AFP news agency on Wednesday that initial probes have been opened against lawmaker Maximilian Krah over “alleged payments” from Russian and Chinese sources.
Krah himself told the regional public broadcaster MDR, which first reported the probe, that he was unaware of the steps being taken and denied any wrongdoing.
Krah’s name has cropped up regularly in recent weeks in connection with the pro-Russia online portal Voice of Europe, which was sanctioned by the Czech government at the end of March after Prague said it was a Kremlin-led propaganda tool.
The main figure behind the portal is said to be Viktor Medvedchuk, another pro-Russia former Ukrainian lawmaker and personal friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s, as well as Voloshyn.
The fresh investigations in Dresden come just one day after one of Krah’s aides was charged by the German government with committing espionage for Chinese intelligence agencies.
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