The German prosecutor’s office had the Brussels office of MEP Kraha searched

Authorities searched the office of a far-right German member of the European Parliament in Brussels on Tuesday. This was reported by the AP agency with reference to the German Supreme Prosecutor’s Office.

Maximilian Krah, the number one candidate of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in the upcoming European Parliament elections, is under scrutiny after his Chinese-German assistant Jian Guo was arrested last month. He is suspected of spying for China.

Guo was supposed to provide information from the European Parliament to the Chinese regime, but also to spy on Chinese opposition activists in Germany for Chinese intelligence. Prosecutors say he also spied on Chinese dissidents in Germany. Krah distanced himself from his assistant and announced two weeks ago that he was firing him immediately. The deputy himself claims that he did not know about the actions of the assistant. The leadership of the AfD supported Krah, so he continues to lead the candidate.

Parliamentary assistant Jian Guo first came into the spotlight in April last year, when the Hungarian website The European Conservative highlighted the concerns of some people in the European Parliament about his connections and real motives.

According to ARD information, the detained man offered himself as an informant to the German authorities about ten years ago. But the German services considered him unreliable because of possible intelligence activities for China, the television added.

We wrote about the case here:

The Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement on Tuesday that “the European Parliament has agreed to enter the premises”. Gua’s apartment in Brussels was already searched last month, according to a statement from the prosecutor’s office. Krah, who leads the AfD party candidate for the June European elections, on the X network https://twitter.com/KrahMax/status/1787769064267341955 that the search of the offices was to be expected and that he was not involved in the search.

For Krah, this is another affair that complicates his election campaign. Together with AfD member of parliament Petr Bystroně, they face suspicions that they received money from a pro-Russian network. This case was started by articles in the Czech newspaper Deník N and the German magazine Der Spiegel, which refer to sources in the secret services. Krah and Bystroň refuse to accept bribes. The AfD has defended the pair, stressing that no evidence has yet been published to confirm the suspicions.

Last month, German authorities also arrested three other people suspected of spying for China and organizing the transfer of information about technology with possible military use. Prosecutors said the three German nationals are accused of having worked for Chinese intelligence before June 2022. They are also suspected of violating German export laws by exporting a special laser without permission.