AfD politician in Chinese spy scandal accused of trying to access security secrets on EU portal
A German far-Right politician accused of hiring a Chinese spy as an assistant allegedly tried to access security secrets held by the European Parliament.
Maximilian Krah, an MEP with the AfD party, is under preliminary investigation by German police after his staffer Jian Guo was arrested on Monday and after a separate incident in which he is accused of taking money from Kremlin agents.
Bernd Lange, chairman of the European Parliament’s committee on international trade, said over the years Mr Krah accessed “sensitive” documents held by his committee on SharePoint, an online file management system.
Speaking to Politico, he said Krah’s office never gained access to documents from the committee classified as “restricted”, which require greater security clearance, but that the full extent of the scandal was unclear.
“It is really disappointing that we have no clear facts and names from the attorney or from the secret services,” Mr Lange said. “This creates a situation of mistrust and uncertainty.”
The allegations are the latest to emerge questioning Mr Krah’s integrity as a politician.
On Monday April 22 Mr Guo was arrested in Dresden on suspicion of passing sensitive information about the European Parliament to China’s ministry of state security. He is also suspected of spying on Chinese opposition figures. Mr Krah has denied any personal wrongdoing and said in the wake of the arrest that he will fire his aide.
Mr Krah was a member of the European Parliament’s EU-China friendship Group, an unofficial grouping of MEPs seen as close to the Chinese state.
The controversial body was formed in 2006 and suspended in 2021 because of concerns that it had grown too close to Beijing’s foreign affairs machine.
The AfD politician, who sits on the party’s federal executive committee which helps shape its foreign policy positions, has described reports of mass internment camps and abuses against the country’s Uyghur minority population in China’s western Xinjiang region as “anti-Chinese propaganda” and “horror stories”.
In March 2024 the FBI questioned Mr Krah over suspicions he took money from Kremlin agents, Der Speigel reported in April, accusations he denies.
It followed allegations that Petr Bystron, fellow AfD politician and candidate running in the European parliamentary elections in June 2024, received €20,000 (£17,000) in cash from the manager of a Russian propaganda network while sitting in a parked car, recordings indicate. Mr Bystron has denied any wrongdoing.
Following all the accusations, the party has dropped to third in the polls.
Alice Weidel, co-leader of the AfD, dismissed them as politically motivated.
“I just see that our party is being discredited,” she said.
The Telegraph has contacted Mr Krah for comment on all the allegations made against him in this story.
