An Alternative for Germany (AfD) lawmaker has criticized Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution for not disclosing to him that a former employee of his had been working as an informant for German intelligence and was blacklisted six years ago due to suspicions he was also spying for the Chinese.
The conservative party’s lead candidate for the upcoming European elections, Maximilian Krah, had employed Chinese-German national Jian G. for several years but was never made aware he had informed for Germany’s domestic intelligence agency from 2007 up until his employment in Krah’s Brussels office.
Jian G. was arrested in Dresden just over a week ago on suspicion of feeding information back to the Chinese. These suspicions were first aroused in 2018 when German intelligence stopped working with him, but Krah was never informed of these concerns during Jian G.’s six-year employment with him.
“The security authorities did not warn or inform me at any time, contrary to their duty,” Krah told Stern and RTL.
“The security authorities obviously knew, didn’t inform me, and dropped the bombshell shortly before the election date. That is quite remarkable,” he said, adding that the timing and manner of the action was “no coincidence.”
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) and the investigating federal prosecutor’s office had previously announced that the Office for the Protection of the Constitution had exposed the man of Chinese origin.
Hans-Georg Maaßen, former President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, recently explained to Junge Freiheit how the agency normally proceeds in such a case: “If there are actual indications that employees of members of parliament are working for a foreign secret service, the President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, his deputy or, if he is unable to do so, the head of counterintelligence conducts awareness-raising talks with the members of parliament.” This did not happen with Krah.
Despite his criticism for their failing to follow protocol, Krah nevertheless announced that he would offer his support to the investigating authorities: “I will proactively seek contact with the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office. On the one hand, to clarify what is going on. But also to discuss the extent to which I can help with the investigation.”
The AfD politician insisted the suspected spy had no access to secret documents or closed meetings and never asked for them. “This means that all of his knowledge is based on freely accessible sources and what he picked up himself during our office meetings or public events.”
