Brussels office of far-right MEP Krah’s assistant raided in Chinese espionage case

Belgian police raided the offices of far-right AfD lead candidate Maximilian Krah’s team in the European Parliament in Brussels early on Tuesday (7 May) to search for evidence against his former aide, suspected to have worked for Beijing.

The European Parliament confirmed the raid but gave no other details. German authorities were present, but the search was led by the Belgian police,  according to information made available to Euractiv.

Two weeks ago, Krah’s former aide Jian Guo got arrested in Germany for allegedly working for Chinese intelligence.

Germany’s Federal Public Prosecutor’s confirmed that “the offices of Jian G[uo] and Maximilian Krah in the European Parliament in Brussels [were] searched on the basis of orders issued by the investigating judge of the Federal Court of Justice and a European Investigation Order”.

According to information available to Euractiv, the focus of the authorities’ search should have been Guo’s office. However, the search first started in the office of another one of Krah’s assistants.

In the end, the four-hour-long operation resulted in a search of all of Krah’s team offices.

Overall, the search lasted until around 3pm, with the authorities confiscating some unspecified documents. Electronic equipment was reportedly not taken, Euractiv has learned.

Krah was not notified of the entry and learned about it from press reports, Euractiv understands. The far-right politician was not present in Brussels as he is currently on the campaign trail in Germany for the European elections, for which he continues to run as lead candidate.

The European Parliament confirmed to Euractiv “that access to an office was provided”.

“When and if requested to, the European Parliament fully cooperates with law enforcement and judicial authorities to assist the course of justice and will continue to do so,” it said.

According to Krah, the raid was expected and the only surprise was that “it took so long” to happen, he stated on X. “This was to be expected after his arrest and is therefore by no means surprising. […] Neither I nor other employees are affected.”

Last Friday, Krah received confirmation that the investigation of Chinese espionage does not involve him and that only Guo is under suspicion.

The German Federal Attorney General suspects Guo of infiltrating multiple civil society organisations, and in one case, working as a secretary-general, he reportedly had access to sensitive information.

In addition, he is accused of relaying parliamentary information to the Chinese, using access via Krah’s office in the European Parliament as an assistant.

While Krah has not been connected to the espionage case, two other preliminary investigations against him into alleged bribery are ongoing.

*Max Griera contributed to the report

AfD MEP Krah: Cleared from espionage case but other preliminary investigations ongoing

The lead candidate of the German far-right party AfD, Maximilian Krah, will not be investigated for the Chinese espionage allegations like his former assistant, unrelated preliminary investigations involving alleged bribery are still ongoing, Euractiv has learned.

[Edited by Aurélie Pugnet/Zoran Radosavljevic]

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