Report: Police find gold bar documents in home of far-right German MP

DPA
·2 min read
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Peter Bystron, member of the AfD parliamentary group in the 19th legislative period of the German Bundestag. picture alliance / Michael Kappeler/dpa
Peter Bystron, member of the AfD parliamentary group in the 19th legislative period of the German Bundestag. picture alliance / Michael Kappeler/dpa

Police have found the serial numbers of several gold bars in a Berlin home of a far-right politician suspected of having ties to pro-Russian platforms, newspaper Die Welt reported on Tuesday.

Peter Bystron, a member of parliament for the Alternative for Germany (AfD), is currently being investigated on suspicion of money laundering and bribing.

Police also found cash in envelopes and bank statements from the Czech Republic and Liechtenstein, the newspaper reported.

Bystron is said to have confirmed the finds to the newspaper, however, Die Welt reported most valuables belong to his mother.

Dpa asked Bystron for a statement in writing on Monday evening. However, this enquiry remained unanswered until Tuesday morning.

Bystron is the second candidate on the party's ticket for the European elections on June 9.

Bystron and another leading AfD politician, Maximilian Krah, have come under intense scrutiny in recent weeks for alleged links to pro-Russian networks. A Czech newspaper had reported that Bystron may have received money from the pro-Russian internet platform "Voices of Europe" (VoE). Bystron denies this.

During a search of Bystron's home, documents containing the serial numbers of gold bars - one weighing 500 grams and another weighing 1 kilo were discovered - according to Die Welt.

"I keep the documents relating to the physical gold and my mother's accounts because I have been appointed her guardian by the court," Bystron told the paper.

"My mother was the owner of a dental clinic in Switzerland for many years, acquired everything legally, and I keep the evidence. This also includes the old statements from the Liechtenstein account, even though it has been closed for some time."

Only the account in the Czech Republic, for which statements were also found, is attributed to Bystron himself: "The account movements on my Czech account are also all completely transparent, as they relate to rental income and expenses from properties in the Czech Republic that have belonged to me and my wife for over 20 years," he told Die Welt.