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CDU slush-fund scandal figure Schreiber denies charges

Karlheinz Schreiber, the German-Canadian weapons lobbyist and key figure in a political slush-fund scandal, was formally charged on Tuesday with tax evasion, bribery and fraud.

Published: 4 August 2009 14:50 CEST

CDU slush-fund scandal figure Schreiber denies charges

A file photo of Karlheinz Schreiber in Canada. Photo: DPA

His lawyer denied he was guilty of any offence.

The 75-year-old arrived in Munich yesterday morning after finally losing a 10-year-battle against extradition from Canada. He is wanted in connection with a political party donations scandal with the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) during the Helmut Kohl era.

Judge Rudolf Weigell also deemed Schreiber a flight risk due to his dual citizenship and ample means and ordered that he stay in jail until trial, court spokesman Karl-Heinz Haeusler told reporters from outside the Augsburg court house. The media was not allowed in the courtroom during the brief hearing.

The charges are related to an allegation that Schreiber gave former CDU treasurer Walther Leisler Kiep a briefcase with €511,000 (1 million German Marks) in a parking lot in Switzerland in 1991, which prosecutors claim then flowed into party coffers.

The resulting investigation forced former Chancellor Helmut Kohl to relinquish his post as honorary chairman of the CDU in 1999.

No trial date has been set yet.

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Germany raids properties in bribery probe aimed at AfD politician

The investigation targets Petr Bystron, the number-two candidate for the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in next month’s European Parliament elections, Der Spiegel news outlet reported.

Police, and prosecutors in Munich, confirmed on Thursday they were conducting “a preliminary investigation against a member of the German Bundestag on the initial suspicion of bribery of elected officials and money laundering”, without giving a name.

Properties in Berlin, the southern state of Bavaria and the Spanish island of Mallorca were searched and evidence seized, they said in a statement.

About 70 police officers and 11 prosecutors were involved in the searches.

Last month, Bystron denied media reports that he was paid to spread pro-Russian views on a Moscow-financed news website, just one of several scandals that the extreme-right anti-immigration AfD is battling.

READ ALSO: How spying scandal has rocked troubled German far-right party

Bystron’s offices in the German parliament, the Bundestag, were searched after lawmakers voted to waive the immunity usually granted to MPs, his party said.

The allegations against Bystron surfaced in March when the Czech government revealed it had bust a Moscow-financed network that was using the Prague-based Voice of Europe news site to spread Russian propaganda across Europe.

Did AfD politicians receive Russian money?

Czech daily Denik N said some European politicians cooperating with the news site were paid from Russian funds, in some cases to fund their European Parliament election campaigns.

It singled out the AfD as being involved.

Denik N and Der Spiegel named Bystron and Maximilian Krah, the AfD’s top candidate for the European elections, as suspects in the case.

After the allegations emerged, Bystron said that he had “not accepted any money to advocate pro-Russian positions”.

Krah has denied receiving money for being interviewed by the site.

On Wednesday, the European Union agreed to impose a broadcast ban on the Voice of Europe, diplomats said.

The AfD’s popularity surged last year, when it capitalised on discontent in Germany at rising immigration and a weak economy, but it has dropped back in the face of recent scandals.

As well as the Russian propaganda allegations, the party has faced a Chinese spying controversy and accusations that it discussed the idea of mass deportations with extremists, prompting a wave of protests across Germany.

READ ALSO: Germany, Czech Republic accuse Russia of cyberattacks

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