MEP under scrutiny for alleged Russian and Chinese payments

The spokesperson for the Dresden General Prosecutor's Office announced the launch of two preliminary investigations against Maximilian Krah, a Member of the European Parliament from the right-wing populist party Alternative for Germany (AfD). These investigations are focused on suspicions of receiving payments from Russian and Chinese sources.

These investigations are separate from another case handled by the Federal Prosecutor's Office involving a German citizen, Jian G., employed by Krah. Jian G. is suspected of conducting espionage activities against China.

The spokesperson for the Prosecutor's Office clarified that the decision to begin a preliminary investigation was based on "current public reports".

According to the "Zeit" weekly's online platform, the backdrop to these investigations comes from media reports last week. These revealed that Krah was interrogated by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in December of the previous year about possible payments from sources linked to the Kremlin.

During the interrogation, the FBI showed Krah a chat message where Oleg Voloshyn, a pro-Russian activist from Ukraine, confirmed he had resolved the issue of "compensation" for Krah's "technical expenses", stating from May "it will be as before February". This message led to suggestions from "Spiegel" and ZDF that Krah might have been covertly financed for some time.

"The Prosecutor's Office is now conducting a preliminary investigation against me - as expected and commonplace, considering the press situation. Preliminary investigations are conducted to determine if there are grounds for suspicion at all. Thus, we are still dealing with assumptions and insinuations," wrote Krah.

An associate of Krah has been detained in Dresden on suspicion of spying for China. He is accused of conveying information from the European Parliament and spying on Chinese opposition figures in Germany, as reported by the Chief Prosecutor.

ARD-Hauptstadtstudio, RBB, and SWR reported that the German citizen Jian G. was arrested overnight from Monday to Tuesday.

Media reveal that G. resides in Brussels and Dresden and is suspected of transmitting information about the European Parliament's negotiations and decisions to the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS) and of espionage against Chinese oppositionists in Germany. G., a German citizen for several years with Chinese origins, moved to Dresden to study in 2002.

The first reports of Krah's suspicious ties to China and his assistant G., along with establishing businesses and associations linked to China, were brought to light by the t-online news portal last year. Upon joining the EP in 2019 on behalf of AfD, Krah appointed G. as his assistant, notes ARD.