極右の欧州議会議員を収賄疑いで予備捜査　独検察

【ベルリンＡＦＰ＝時事】ドイツ連邦検察庁は２４日、ロシアと中国から資金を受け取っていた疑いで、反移民を掲げる極右政党「ドイツのための選択肢（ＡｆＤ）」に所属する欧州議会議員に対する予備的な捜査に着手したことを明らかにした。（写真は、極右政党「ドイツのための選択肢〈ＡｆＤ〉」の共同党首のアリス・ワイデル氏〈左〉とティノ・クルパラ氏）
　この議員はマクシミリアン・クラー議員で、欧州議会選挙の有力候補。同議員のスタッフも２２日、中国の情報機関のためにスパイ活動をしていた疑いで逮捕されたばかり。
　検察庁は、クラー氏の予備捜査の目的について、「議員の贈収賄絡みの犯罪行為の嫌疑」があるかを調べることにあるとしている。
　クラー氏は、スタッフのジアン・グオ容疑者が逮捕された後、ＡｆＤのアリス・ワイデル、ティノ・クルパラ両共同党首と会談し、欧州議会選の同党筆頭候補にとどまる意向を表明。
　ただ両共同党首によれば、クラー氏は今週末に開催予定の欧州議会選に向けた決起集会には参加しない見通し。６月の欧州議会選、９月に予定されている三つの州議会選を控え、ＡｆＤは深刻な危機に陥った形だ。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/04/25-16:54）

German prosecutors Wednesday said they had opened a preliminary probe into a far-right AfD politician over reports of suspicious payments from Russia and China, sinking the anti-immigration party deeper in crisis in a key election year.
The AfD was already struggling to contain fallout from the arrest on Monday of a parliamentary aide of its leading candidate for European Union elections in June over suspicions of spying for China.
But the candidate, Maximilian Krah, was now the focus of two separate initial probes into possible corruption.
Preliminary investigation proceedings have been launched against Krah to examine whether there is any initial suspicion of criminal conduct involving bribery of a member of parliament, prosecutors said in a statement.
Krah had previously been caught up in Russian propaganda allegations, before the arrest of Jian Guo, his aide.
Despite Guo's arrest, Krah had said he would remain the top candidate for the party, following crisis talks with the AfD's co-leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla on Wednesday.
The controversial politician will however not attend the official launch this weekend of the party's EU vote race so as not to damage the election campaign and the standing of the party, the joint leaders said.
The developments have left the AfD in emergency mode seven weeks before the EU elections and ahead of three key regional polls in Germany in September.
The party was riding high in opinion polls at the end of last year on around 22 percent -- ahead of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats (SPD) and second only to the main opposition conservatives.
But it has since seen a significant drop in support as it contends with various controversies, with one survey this week putting it on 16 percent.
- 'Descending into chaos' -
In January, an investigation by media group Correctiv indicated AfD members had discussed the idea of mass deportations at a meeting with extremists, leading to a wave of protests across the country.
More recently, Krah and another AfD candidate for the EU elections, Petr Bystron, have denied allegations they accepted money to spread pro-Russian positions on a Moscow-financed news website.
And Bjoern Hoecke, one of the AfD's most controversial politicians and the party head in Thuringia state, is on trial for publicly using a banned Nazi slogan.
Scholz on Wednesday called the Chinese spying allegations very worrying, without commenting in detail.
Dirk Wiese, a senior SPD politician, told the Rheinische Post newspaper the AfD was descending into chaos.
First the allegations of sleazy money payments from the Kremlin, now suspected espionage for China... What's next, North Korea? he said.
The AfD's parliamentary group chief Bernd Baumann slammed the allegations as politically motivated and put them down to dirty electioneering.
We have become pretty hardened when it comes to accusations, especially in pre-election and election campaign times, he said, blaming suspicious reporting for many of the claims.
- End of an era? -
Asked about the alleged links to Russia, Chrupalla said that as long as no evidence and proof is put on the table, we cannot react.
Chrupalla also remained reticent on the China issue, stressing that no charges had been brought and the party leadership would wait and see how the case develops before coming to any conclusions.
The AfD is still polling neck-and-neck with the SPD at the national level and in first place in Brandenburg, Saxony and Thuringia, all holding regional polls in September.
But Hajo Funke, a political analyst who specialises in the far right, said support for the party has fallen considerably in some cases because of the scandals.
Overall, I believe that the great era of 'we are doing better and better' has come to an end, he told AFP.