German far-right politician’s office searched in bribery, money laundering probe

Police have searched the parliamentary office of a prominent far-right Alternative for Germany party (AfD) politician in connection with a probe into bribery and money laundering, according to German media reports.

Petr Bystron, second on the AfD’s list for the EU election, had been facing allegations, reported on extensively by the German media, that he received €20,000 from people with links to Russian President Vladimir Putin in order to spread Kremlin propaganda.

Munich prosecutors said premises in Berlin, Bavaria and on Majorca were searched in connection with an investigation based on an initial suspicion, though they did not mention Bystron by name.

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

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

The AfD, which is polling in second place in Germany, has seen its support slide of late following a string of scandals.

Last month, Belgian and German police conducted searches at 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 public prosecutors in the city of Dresden initiated a preliminary investigation on suspicion that Krah had accepted payments from Russia and China “for his work as an MEP.”

Both Bystron and Krah have denied wrongdoing.

Many AfD politicians have depicted the investigations as part of a state-led conspiracy to foil the party’s rise — a witch-hunt narrative many of the party’s core supporters in its eastern strongholds have embraced.