Far-right German politician’s office raided in corruption, money laundering probe – POLITICO

The German parliament earlier voted to lift Bystron’s parliamentary immunity to allow the searches. Only AfD parliamentarians abstained in the vote.

“So far, no evidence has been provided to support the accusations made for weeks against Mr. Bystron,” AfD leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla said in a statement. statement. “The AfD parliamentary group therefore hopes that the investigations will be concluded quickly so that there is no suspicion that authorities and prosecutors bound by instructions are trying to influence the European election campaign.”

The AfD, which ranks second in polls in Germany, has recently seen its support plummet following a series of scandals.

Last month, Belgian and German police carried out searches in the European Parliament offices of AfD MEP Maximilian Krah and his aide as part of an investigation into suspected Chinese espionage.

Around the same time, German prosecutors in the city of Dresden opened a preliminary investigation into suspicions that Krah accepted payments from Russia and China “for his work as an MEP.”

Bystron and Krah have denied any wrongdoing.