AfD threatens millions of penalty due to donation over Strohmann

A few days before the Bundestag election, there are reports on a new party donation affair at the AfD:, a donation of 2.35 million euros for poster advertising in numerous German cities does not come from a former politician of the right-wing populist FPÖ Austria, but actually from a German billionaire.

According to research of the “Spiegel” and there is a suspicion that ex-FPÖ official and businessman Gerhard Dingler only acted as a straw man for the million-dollar transaction. As both media reported on investigations by Austrian security authorities, Dingler is said to have received a “gift” in the millions before his supposed donation to the AfD – from the real estate billionaire Henning Conle from Duisburg.

According to this, Dingler is said to have submitted a contract a few weeks ago, according to which he received 2.6 million euros from Conle. When asked by the bank, which the money is used for, Dingler is said to have only spoken of a real estate project. But shortly afterwards, a posterry company in Cologne is said to have gone from his account 2,349,906 euros. The AfD reported the same sum of the Bundestag administration in early February, and the Austrian Dingler is recorded as a donor.

As “Spiegel” and “Standard” reported, the Austrian authorities are now pursuing the suspicion of money laundering. The Federal Criminal Police Office and the Austrian Directorate State Protection and Intelligence (DSN) are therefore also involved in the case.

According to the German Party Act, so -called straw man donations are prohibited, in which the identity of the actual donor is disguised. If the suspicion is confirmed, the AfD threatens a triple amount of the inadmissible donation according to the party law – around seven million euros.

According to the report, Conle is said to have residence in Zurich and London as well as a holding company in Liechtenstein. In the past, he is said to have supported the AfD hidden. According to “Spiegel”, the Bundestag administration therefore imposed a penalty money over almost 400,000 euros against the party in 2020.

A spokesman for AfD boss Alice Weidel informed the “Spiegel” that the party and the federal executive board had so far had no evidence that Dingler was only a straw man. Before the donation, he informed the AfD that the money for the campaign “comes from its own assets” and that payment “was not in particular on behalf of third parties”. Dingler and Conle did not respond to “Spiegel” inquiries.