Employee arrested
Krah refuses to resign because of espionage affair
April 24, 2024, 3:25 a.m
An employee of AfD politician Krah is being investigated for espionage. However, the MEP sees no reason for personal consequences. Because of the case, the party leadership is now asking for a crisis meeting.
After the arrest of an employee on suspicion of espionage, the AfD’s leading candidate for the European elections, Maximilian Krah, sees no reason for personal consequences. “I’m not accused of any wrongdoing. That means we have to clarify what is actually true. I won’t go to hell for the alleged wrongdoing of my employee,” said Krah in response to a question from the news magazine “Politico”. Tuesday evening in Berlin.
The police arrested German citizen Jian Guo, who works for Krah as an assistant in the EU Parliament, in Dresden on Monday. According to the Federal Prosecutor General, he is accused of acting as an agent for a foreign secret service in a particularly serious case. The investigators specifically accuse the man of passing on information about negotiations in the EU Parliament and spying on Chinese opposition members in Germany. The EU Parliament has now suspended Guo because of the allegations.
The party leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla want to hold a crisis meeting with Krah in Berlin this morning to discuss how to proceed and possible consequences. A statement is planned after the conversation. Chrupalla described the arrest of Krah’s employee as “absolutely disturbing”. Weidel emphasized that the AfD leadership was taking the allegations “very seriously.”
As Tagesschau.de reported, Guo has Chinese roots. He came to Dresden in 2002 as a student, where Krah also comes from. Over the years he is said to have gotten to know him in connection with starting a company. When he entered the European Parliament in 2019, Krah brought him into his Brussels team as an assistant, according to information from Zeit online. A little later he accompanied Krah on a trip to China.