German prosecutors probe far-right lawmaker over bribery

German prosecutors launched an investigation into a lawmaker of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party on suspicion of bribery and money laundering as well as searching several properties on Thursday.

According to dpa information, the person in question is Petr Bystron, the second candidate on the party's ticket for the European elections in June. Germany's lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, had waived Bystron's immunity.

The public prosecutor's office in Munich said searches were planned for Bystron's office in Berlin, several locations in Bavaria in the districts of Munich, Erding and Deggendorf and on the Spanish island of Mallorca during the course of Thursday.

According to the report, 11 public prosecutors and around 70 officers from the Bavarian police force were deployed.

Properties of witnesses who are not accused in the proceedings were also searched, a spokesman for the public prosecution said. The main aim was to seize documents and data carriers in order to search them for evidence, he said.

Bystron has been the AfD's chairman of the Bundestag's Foreign Affairs Committee since 2017. Since 2021, he has also been his party's foreign policy spokesman and its representative to the Council of Europe and the Inter-Parliamentary Union of global legislatures.

Bystron himself could not initially be reached for comment.

The Munich public prosecutor pointed out that the presumption of innocence applies until a possible conviction.

Bystron and another leading AfD politician, Maximilian Krah, have come under intense scrutiny in recent weeks for alleged links to pro-Russian networks. Following media reports about possible payments to both politicians, public prosecutors recently examined whether to open an investigation.

Krah, a member of the European Parliament, is the AfD's top candidate for the European elections in June.

In March, the Czech Republic placed the pro-Russian internet platform Voice of Europe (VoE) on the national sanctions list following an investigation by the intelligence services, which also included interviews with Bystron and Krah.

The site was said to be part of a Russian influence operation aimed at calling into question the territorial integrity, sovereignty and freedom of Ukraine. A Czech newspaper had reported that Bystron may also have accepted money.

As a result of this and other reports, the public prosecutor's office in Munich initiated so-called preliminary investigations in the Bystron case to examine whether there was an initial suspicion of criminal behaviour involving bribery of lawmakers.

According to dpa information, the investigations that have now been initiated relate to the allegations in connection with VoE.

The criminal prosecution authorities in Dresden had also opened a preliminary investigation against Krah, who is from the east German city, and another person into possible payments from China.

In addition, Krah's former employee Jian G was arrested on suspicion of spying for China. In connection with the investigation against G, Germany's public prosecutor had Krah's offices and those of his ex-employee in the European Parliament in Brussels searched last week.

The AfD leadership continues to stand by its two European election candidates.

After a short break, Krah is once again making campaign appearances and in Bystron's case, party leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla only briefly stated in writing on Thursday: "The waiver of immunity and the search of Petr Bystron's office and private premises are a serious matter."

So far, no evidence has been presented for the accusations that have been levelled against Bystron for weeks, they said.

The AfD's parliamentary group hopes for a swift conclusion to the investigation "so that there is no suspicion that an attempt is being made to influence the European election campaign through authorities and public prosecutors bound by instructions."

The AfD had been polling nationally at around 20%, amid high dissatisfaction with Chancellor Olaf Scholz's three-party coalition, but support has dropped to between 16 and 18% following a series of recent scandals.

The AfD's signature issue is a hard-line anti-immigration stance, and the party is profiting from increased concern among many German voters over rising numbers of people seeking asylum in the country.

Earlier this week, a regional court decided that Germany's intelligence services can classify the AfD as a suspected extremist group. The party said it plans to appeal the ruling.