AfD donation affair: criminal proceedings against Weidel stopped

In the affair of alleged illegal donations to an election campaign account of Alice Weidel, all proceedings have been discontinued. Research by WDR, NDR and SZ show what happened to the money paid back.

The investigation into a party donation to the AfD that the Bundestag administration classified as illegal lasted for almost three years. Now the responsible public prosecutor in Konstanz has closed the criminal proceedings against the party’s front woman, Alice Weidel, and three other accused AfD officials on suspicion of infidelity and violation of the party law.

Weidel confirmed WDR, NDR and “Süddeutscher Zeitung” (SZ) on request that the proceedings had been discontinued; she did not yet have a reason. The public prosecutor’s office in Konstanz also confirmed the process, but has not yet wanted to comment on the reason.

Money came from Switzerland

The prosecutors had started the investigation after WDR, NDR and SZ had revealed a cash flow in 2017 of around 132,000 euros from Switzerland for Weidel’s federal election campaign at the time. These had been transferred in several tranches by a Swiss pharmaceutical company to an election campaign account of the then AfD top candidate for the 2017 federal election.

However, it was how WDR, NDR and SZ later also revealed a covert donation from the German-Swiss billionaire Henning Conle. At the end of the proceedings, the prosecutors have now found: From a criminal law perspective, Weidel and her fellow district boards of the AfD were not guilty of anything in their constituency.

No culpable behavior proven

When asked, a spokesman for Weidels said that in the entire “Donations KV Bodenseekreis” case she was never to be accused of guilty action. The Konstanz public prosecutor’s office has now also determined this after many months. “The termination of the proceedings was to be expected. Dr. Weidel takes note of this fact with satisfaction, as it finally removes the basis for all unfounded speculations in public.”

The key question for the criminal proceedings was: Has there been a specific agreement between the donor and the recipient regarding later payment? This is shown by the files of the “EV Gabe” WDR, NDR and SZ.

In an investigation report by the LKA Baden-Württemberg from December 2020, the balance sheet states that no clues or clues were found that would suggest that there was between the donors Conle and his helpers and the responsible suspects of the district board of AfD Bodensee in the run-up to the Donation gave a connection.

Swiss donation used initially

Even after the investigation has been completed, many questions remain unanswered: Just a few months before the 2017 federal election, the first tranches of a total of 132,000 euros flowed from the pharmaceutical company of a Zurich pharmacist to the AfD Bodenseekreis account – intended use: “Alice Weidel Socialmedia campaign donation”.

Party donations from non-EU countries of more than 1000 euros are illegal according to party law. Those responsible in the AfD decided only about nine months later to transfer the donation back to the pharmacist. In the meantime, Weidel had used several thousand euros of the money, among other things, to pay the bills of a consultant and a media lawyer as well as a social media company. The Bundestag administration responsible for party donations had not heard of the donation from Switzerland.

The trail of money

Billionaire Conle’s donation should apparently not only be concealed with the pharmacist, as investigators suggest in the criminal investigation files. The investigators also apparently followed up bogus lists of straw people that the party’s pharmaceutical company and the party then presented to the Bundestag administration at the end of 2018 as allegedly true donors.

Detour via pharmaceutical company

The investigators found Conle’s trail very early on. Shortly after WDR, NDR and SZ had revealed the affair, the Konstanz public prosecutor’s office had already received an anonymous complaint pointing to Conle. Allegedly, the billionaire made a statement to the whistleblower that the AfD was finally a party that you could give your money to.

In fact, the billionaire Conle had transferred the entire amount in Swiss francs with just one transfer to the pharmaceutical company, according to a bank statement. The documents also reveal new inconsistencies: Although the AfD had transferred the money back to the pharmaceutical company in April 2018, it apparently did not flow back to the real donor Conle.

Instead, transfers to companies and individuals flowed from the account of the pharmaceutical company: So the pharmacist paid after research by WDR, NDR and SZ, for example, a five-digit hotel bill in Leipzig for a woman entrepreneur and paid two men large sums of money out of francs. At the time, one of the recipients announced that they were in financial difficulties.

Conle is silent

Several of the recipients stated on request that they knew nothing of a connection to the AfD donation. The investigators also apparently saw no evidence that money could have covertly flowed back to the AfD via this construction.

It remains unclear whether the pharmacist returned the money to billionaire Conle in cash or in some other way. Conle and the pharmacist did not want to comment when asked. Even the German investigators, despite legal aid from Switzerland, did not succeed in interrogating the billionaire.

Funds also apparently flowed through the agency

The files also raise the question of whether the pharmaceutical company was the only way of covering up the billionaire Conle used to support the AfD. Traces also led to the Swiss advertising agency Goal AG via false donor lists. For years she has been suspected of playing a not unimportant role in supporting right-wing parties.

Goal AG is said to have been involved in several questionable financing cases in favor of the AfD, including campaign support for party leader Jörg Meuthen. In his and one other case, there were also fictitious donor lists, the traces of which led to Goal AG as well as to Henning Conle’s surroundings. However, these traces were not followed up in the course of the investigation.

AfD is said to pay just under 400,000 euros for a donation

While the criminal part of the investigation of the affair now appears to be over, another part remains open. This concerns a second state procedure that the Bundestag administration has carried out against the party within the meaning of party law. Last year, the AfD authorities had already sent a penalty notice for 396,000 euros. She is responsible for party donations and had classified the payment as an illegal party donation after completion of a review process.

The officials concluded that the funds had been illegally collected, even if they were later transferred back by the party. The AfD sued the penalty order and was defeated in the first instance before the Administrative Court in Berlin in June. In the meantime she has applied for a revision.