Arrests EU Parliament aide

Germany arrests EU Parliament aide over bombshell China spying claims

Espionage probe rocks German far-right party as it flies high in the polls.

BY EDDY WAX, PIERRE EMMANUEL NGENDAKUMANA AND HANS VON DER BURCHARD

German police arrested the aide of a top European lawmaker working for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party over accusations he spied for China.

The staffer, identified as Jian G. by German authorities, works for MEP Maximilian Krah who is the AfD’s top candidate in the European Parliament election in June. “Jian G. is an employee of a Chinese secret service,” the German public prosecutor said in a statement Tuesday morning.

The bombshell arrest, which rocks the AfD while it polls in second place nationally, sparked calls from one top European lawmaker for a tougher crackdown on Chinese and Russian infiltrators attempting to influence EU democracy.

Belgium recently opened a criminal investigation into suspicions that a network of European politicians including MEPs were paid by a media outlet operated by a pro-Russian Ukrainian oligarch. In a separate case in Latvia, an MEP is being investigated on suspicion of collaborating with the Russian secret service.

Regarding Krah’s parliamentary assistant, German public prosecutor’s office said “the accused repeatedly passed on information about negotiations and decisions in the European Parliament to his intelligence service client.” Prosecutors also accused him of spying on Chinese opposition members in Germany.

In a statement Tuesday morning, Krah denied having prior knowledge of his assistant’s alleged espionage activities.

“I learned of the arrest of my employee Jian Guo this morning from the press,” Krah said. “I have no further information. Spying for a foreign state is a serious accusation. If the allegations prove to be true, this would result in the immediate termination of his employment.”

A spokesperson for the European Parliament announced that, “given the seriousness of the revelations,” the Parliament has moved to suspend Krah’s assistant with immediate effect.

The AfD is polling a strong second place in Germany, behind the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Christian Social Union (CSU) conservative alliance, but the party has seen its support slide of late following a string of scandals.

Krah himself will soon face a disciplinary panel consisting of other MEPs over another matter, according to an EU Parliament official who was granted anonymity to discuss the confidential subject.

The panel was convened after reports in the German media that Krah had been questioned by the FBI during a trip to the U.S. over alleged payments from sources close to the Kremlin. Krah denied having received payments.

‘Consequences must follow’

After the arrest in Dresden of Krah’s assistant, European lawmakers quickly issued condemnations and called for stricter security clearances following the news. 

“We continue to see that on the far right of this chamber, people are putting our institutions at risk of interference from third countries,” French Renew MEP Nathalie Loiseau told POLITICO in a statement. “Security clearances for staff and MEPs dealing with sensitive issues are long overdue. The Russiagate allegations and this arrest show the time for naivety is over.”

The European Greens also called for an accelerated probe in Brussels over the arrest. 

“Autocracies like China and Russia are actively trying to undermine our democracies in Europe,” said Terry Reintke, lead candidate for the European Greens. “Consequences must follow swiftly. People who attack the integrity of our democracies must be held to account.”

German authorities on Monday also arrested three people suspected of supplying information on military technology to a Chinese intelligence service. 

The Chinese Embassy in Berlin denied those allegations, urging Germany “to stop exploiting the espionage accusation to politically manipulate the image of China and defame China,” German public broadcaster Deutschlandfunk reported.

And in the U.K. on Monday a British parliamentary researcher was charged with spying for China.