Alternative for Germany donation scandal

The Alternative for Germany donation scandal (German: AfD-Spendenaffäre) was a political scandal resulting from illegal forms of financing politicians of Germanys right-wing party Alternative for Germany (AfD). Federal and European politicians Alice Weidel, Jörg Meuthen, Marcus Pretzell and Guido Reil profited from unnamed donators.

Public prosecutor's office Konstanz and the office of Bundestag determine since 2018. The acceptance of donations from non-EU countries is prohibited for German parties; with the exception of donations from German- or European companies.

Background

In the Federal Republic of Germany parties finance themselves by state subsidies, membership fees and shares of companies. But also via unlimited donations of private persons.

In order to minimize or at least to make transparent the influence of donors on politics in Germany, the party law regulates which party donations may be accepted. The acceptance of donations from the non-EU-foreign countries over €1,000 is forbidden for German politicians, since it should prevent that foreign interests influence the political happenings and the will formation of the citizens in Germany.

Anonymous donations are generally prohibited if they exceed €500. In that case, at least the receiving party must know the name of the donor. Donations by stooges are prohibited. An immediate obligation to register with the office of Bundestag consists of donations of more than €50,000. The AfD district Bodensee of Alice Weidel received the donations piecemeal.[1]

Involved politicians

Alice Weidel
Alice Weidel, 2017

Alice Weidel is co-chair of the AfD parliamentary group in the Bundestag and deputy chairman of the AfD district Bodensee (Southwest Germany). In the three months leading up to the 2017 general election, AfD district Bodensee received several thousand Swiss francs a week as a donation with the comment "campaign donation Alice Weidel". In total, these were €132,000 in 18 installments. At the beginning of 2018, another 150,000 euros went to the AfD district Bodensee.

After becoming public, AfD handed a list of 14 donors, from whom the amounts should have come, to the office of Bundestag. The public prosecutor's office Konstanz assumes that the persons and companies are straw men. The list consists almost exclusively of males from Germany and Spain and a businessman from Belgium. At least 12 of the 14 donors are related or friends to each other, according to media investigations. Some of these people are also on other donor lists. Several testified at the German criminal police, they were just a straw person. According to German weekly newspaper Die Zeit, they hoped for impunity.[2] For example, the persons concerned are also an ALG II recipient and a senior citizen in need of care. The major donor PWS Pharamawholesale International AG in Zurich stated that it had acted on behalf.

Im April 2018 WDR, NDR and Süddeutsche Zeitung in corporation with Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger researched the origin of the donation in the environment of the real estate billionaire Henning Conle junior, who originally is from Duisburg, Germany and lives in Switzerland and London. One of the straw men who donated to the AfD works for the real estate company Conimmo in Antwerp. Conimmo is majority owned by Henning Conle senior; his son Henning Conle junior is director of the company.[3][4]

Year Amount Alleged donator Real donator
August–October 2017 €132,000

(donated in CHF)

 PWS Pharamawholesale International AG in Zurich by money of 14 private persons maybe a friend of PWS-owner, maybe Henning Conle
April 2018 €9,000 a businessman from Belgium The businessman said later, he was recruited directly from Switzerland to make his name available.
Beginning of 2018 €150,000 unknown unknown

Jörg Meuthen
Jörg Meuthen, 2015

Jörg Meuthen is the Chairman of the AfD national party. He received a donation in kind during his 2016 and 2017 campaigns. His campaign, he said, cost around €90,000. The Swiss company "Goal" helped Meuthen with free promotional material.

Goal AG later sent a list of the people who had allegedly donated to the company for the AfD campaign assistance of Jörg Meuthen and the European election candidate Guido Reil. Two people appeared on the list who allegedly also donated to Alice Weidel: the Belgian businessman and another person. Meuthen himself does not see this as "donations in the sense of party law". According to their own statement, the donors were "all Germans within the meaning of the Basic Law or the equivalent citizen of EU member states".[5] The Public Prosecutor's Office is investigating whether this is considered an illegal donation and would thus violate the party act.

In the state election in Baden-Württemberg in 2016, an "Association for the Preservation of the Rule of Law and Civil Liberties" helped massively in the election advertising. In September 2016, the Association for the Preservation of the Rule of Law and Civil Liberties was founded in Stuttgart. In July 2017 of the following year, the association launched the right-wing populist weekly newspaper "Deutschland-Kurier", which supports AfD. It will be distributed free of charge before state elections as a continuation of the previous AfD election newspaper "Extrablatt".

Guido Reil

Guido Reil took money or benefits from donors from Switzerland in the 2017 state election campaign. During his time as a candidate of the AFD state list for the state election in North Rhine-Westphalia 2017 and AfD direct candidate in Essen, he, like Meuthen, sought the help of the Swiss Goal AG. The company had offered to support his campaign with posters in his constituency in the north of Essen. Again, the agency said the costs were covered, but not by whom. Reil gave Goal AG a "permission to use" and sent photos of himself to Switzerland.

Marcus Petzell
Marcus Petzell, 2017
At Congress Center Düsseldorf on February 13, 2016 the event „European visions“ with Frauke Petry, Marcus Pretzell, deligates of FPÖ and the slowak SaS took place. 2/3 of the rent of €36,000 was paid by the non-eu-company Goal AG from Switzerland.

In June 2017 Pretzell received a direct payment of an amount of €28,037. The money was used to support an election campaign event in for the 2017 North Rhine-Westphalia state election in Düsseldorf. Heinz-Christian Strache (FPÖ) also gave a speech at the event. Under German law, the payment could constitute a donation prohibited by the party cct.

Pretzell stated that the Düsseldorf meeting was not a party event. The links between Pretzell and the advertising agency Goal AG also call into question the AfD's statement that it does not know who is behind the multi-million dollar supporters' association. Similar direct links between AfD and Goal AG also existed during the Baden-Württemberg state election campaign.

Year Amount Alleged donator Real donator
2016 €28,000 payment of event location by Goal AG, Switzerland Goal AG unknown main donator, transferred via Goal AG

References
  1. "FAQ: Wann sind Parteispenden illegal?". tagesschau.de.
  2. ONLINE, ZEIT (March 28, 2019). "AfD-Spendenaffäre: Erhebliche Zweifel an Spenderliste der AfD" – via Die Zeit.
  3. https://www.tagesschau.de/investigativ/ndr-wdr-sz/afd-spenden-115.html
  4. "AfD donation scandal deepens as party conference kicks off | DW | 16.11.2018". DW.COM.
  5. "AfD-Spendenaffäre: Meuthen hält sich für unschuldig". tagesschau.de.
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