Secret services: Suspected China spy caught in EU politician’s environment

According to security circles, an employee of the German AfD MEP Maximilian Krah has been arrested on suspicion of spying for China.

The Federal Prosecutor General (GBA) reported on the arrest in Dresden without naming Krah. According to the GBA, the arrested person is said to have passed on information from the European Parliament. ARD and “Zeit” also reported on it.

Meanwhile, the EU Parliament suspended the assistant. “Following the decision of the German judicial authorities to arrest a person currently working as an accredited assistant (APA) in the European Parliament, and given the seriousness of the revelations, the Parliament has suspended the person in question with immediate effect,” the authority said Inquiry with. Parliament will cooperate with the relevant authorities and take appropriate follow-up action. Further details have not yet been given.

Krah initially reacted cautiously to reports of the arrest. Krah wrote on prove, this would result in the immediate termination of the employment relationship.”

The AfD’s top candidate for the European elections told the “Bild” newspaper at the airport in Strasbourg that, as far as he knew, his employee had only maintained “contacts with official Chinese bodies in the embassy.”

“Bild” also quotes an unnamed AfD federal executive board member as saying that Krah is now becoming a problem for the party. Krah’s AfD colleague in the EU Parliament, Sylvia Limmer, wrote on much more.” She accused party leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla of insisting on Krah and having a decisive influence on the EU candidate list. Krah is the AfD’s top candidate for the upcoming European elections.

The first parliamentary managing director of the AfD parliamentary group, Bernd Baumann, said about the arrest to journalists in Berlin: “We’ll see what kind of evidence there is now and then we’ll see.” When it comes to accusations during election campaigns, they are now being treated harshly. “We are not frightened for now and our voters, large parts of them in any case, are no longer frightened either,” he added.

AfD candidate Krah calls for withdrawal

Politicians from various parties are calling for Krah to resign. CDU parliamentary director Thorsten Frei told the “Rheinische Post”: “It is absolutely out of the question to have a top candidate who has to deal with such allegations.”

The FDP MP Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann also criticized the AfD European candidate Petr Bystron, who defends himself against accusations that he may have received money for pro-Russian propaganda: “Both should, based on human discretion, resign their candidacy instead of further damaging our country.” , she told the Berlin “Tagesspiegel”.

Green Party leader Omid Nouripour sees the AfD as a threat to national security. “There is an urgent need for clarification about the opaque relationships of your top candidate Krah with representatives of Russia and China,” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

Information from the EU Parliament

The German national Jian G. is said to be an employee of a Chinese secret service. Since 2019 he is said to have worked for a German member of the European Parliament, and according to ARD and “Zeit” he was already working for Krah back then. According to the Federal Prosecutor General, he has repeatedly passed on information about negotiations and decisions in the European Parliament since last January. It was also said that he spied on Chinese opposition members in Germany for the intelligence service. He is scheduled to be brought before the investigating judge at the Federal Court of Justice later in the day.

Faeser: New espionage allegations “extremely serious”

Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser describes the new espionage allegations as “extremely serious.” “If it is confirmed that the European Parliament was spying for Chinese intelligence services, then it would be an attack from within on European democracy,” said the SPD politician in Berlin. The accusation of spying on the Chinese opposition is just as serious. “Anyone who employs such an employee also bears responsibility for it,” emphasized Faeser.

Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann also emphasized the seriousness of the espionage allegations. “If the accusation is confirmed, it will hit the heart of our democracy,” explained Buschmann. “Members of Parliament and their employees serve our democracy in a special way – there are accusations here that are diametrically opposed to that. We cannot tolerate that; harsh consequences must follow if the suspicion is confirmed.”