Germany arrests EU Parliament staffer over bombshell claims he spied for China
Germany arrests EU Parliament staffer over bombshell claims he spied for China
Espionage probe rocks German far-right party as it flies high in the polls.
“The accused repeatedly passed on information about negotiations and decisions in the European Parliament to his intelligence service client,” authorities said.
German police arrested an Alternative for Germany (AfD) aide who works in the European Parliament over accusations he spied for China.
The staffer, named as Jian G. by German authorities, works for MEP Maximilian Krah, who is the AfD’s top candidate in the European Parliament election in June.
“Jian G. is an employee of a Chinese secret service,” the German Public Prosecutor said in a bombshell statement Tuesday morning.
“He has been working for a German Member of the European Parliament since 2019. In January 2024, the accused repeatedly passed on information about negotiations and decisions in the European Parliament to his intelligence service client,” the prosecutor added.
AfD seems to always be in the news for being foreign spies. Funny how that’s a recurrent theme in the world, right wing politicians being spies or stooges for authoritarian regimes.
Another AfD politician recently was caught on camera taking Russian money.
But you are right, this is a general theme among right-wing politicians. Brexit is hailed as one of Putins biggest successes in weakening Europe, and Trump is a total Putin (and Xi and Kim Jong-un) fanboy, if not even a Russian secret service asset.
Sounds like the guy he works for is on a bunch of stuff that'd potentially be interesting from China's standpoint:
Krah, 46, has been a lawmaker in the European Parliament since 2019, where he is a member of the trade committee and the Delegation to the United States, as well as the subcommittees on human rights and security and defense.
@MicroWave this is pretty nuts
This is the best summary I could come up with:
German police arrested an Alternative for Germany (AfD) aide who works in the European Parliament over accusations he spied for China.
The staffer, named as Jian G. by German authorities, works for MEP Maximilian Krah, who is the AfD’s top candidate in the European Parliament election in June.
“Jian G. is an employee of a Chinese secret service,” the German Public Prosecutor said in a bombshell statement Tuesday morning.
In January 2024, the accused repeatedly passed on information about negotiations and decisions in the European Parliament to his intelligence service client,” the prosecutor added.
German authorities on Monday also arrested three people suspected of supplying information on military technology to a Chinese intelligence service.
The Chinese Embassy in Berlin denied the allegations, urging Germany “to stop exploiting the espionage accusation to politically manipulate the image of China and defame China,” German public broadcaster Deutschlandfunk reported.
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