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The office of far-right German MEP Maximilian Krah, who is embroiled in espionage and corruption allegations, has accessed “sensitive” documents from the European Parliament’s trade committee via an internal online system, committee Chair Bernd Lange confirmed to POLITICO.
“Over the years, he has accessed some limited/sensitive documents on SharePoint,” the internal system, Lange said on Saturday.
Krah, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party’s lead candidate in June’s European election, is being investigated over allegations that he accepted payments from Russia and China “for his work as an MEP.”
Lange denied that Krah’s office had retrieved documents with the classification level “restricted” via the trade committee. The “limited/sensitive” classification refers to sensitive content that is not necessarily subject to confidentiality.
“Maximilian Krah has never received any EU Restricted documents” in the trade committee, Lange said. But Lange said the full extent of the scandal is still unclear.
“It is really disappointing that we have no clear facts and names from the attorney or from the secret services,” Lange said. “This creates a situation of mistrust and uncertainty.”
German public prosecutors in the city of Dresden earlier this week initiated preliminary investigations into Krah over the corruption allegations involving Russia and China. Before that, German police on Monday arrested one of Krah’s parliamentary aides, identified as Jian G., over claims he spied for China.
The Federal Prosecutor General accuses Jian G. of having passed on internal European Parliament information to China. This activity most recently included information on a motion for a resolution directed against China’s persecution of minorities such as the Uyghurs and Tibetans, according to German news outlet WELT. Jian G., a German citizen born in China, is currently in custody. He was fired by Krah after the allegations came to light.
Krah told the Süddeutsche Zeitung that a review he had initiated had revealed that Jian G. did not have access to classified documents.
The Subcommittee on Human Rights, of which Krah is also a member, is also investigating whether information may have been obtained. The chair of the subcommittee, Udo Bullmann, said that Krah had hardly been active on the panel. “As far as I know, he never received sensitive information during my term of office, nor did he ask for it. But of course our secretariat has already started to double- and triple-check the information,” Bullmann said on Saturday.
On Friday, Terry Reintke and Philippe Lamberts, leaders of the Greens/EU group, sent a letter to European Parliament President Roberta Metsola calling for a comprehensive internal investigation.
