A senior MEP within Germany’s Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party has denounced one of the country’s major media outlets as acting in a “schizophrenic” manner after it made serious allegations against him.
Maximilian Krah has been accused by news publication T-online of having various under-the-cover links to China, with the outlet linking one of his European Parliament assistants, Jian G., to various organisations connected to the Chinese Communist Party.
Speaking to Brussels Signal, Krah dismissed the many allegations of dodgy dealings made against him, describing the T-online article as reading “like the wild ravings of a schizophrenic who has ‘figured out’ how the world ‘really works'”.
“There is simply no proof, not even an indication of any stream of money or assets coming my way,” he said.
“Naming people I know and where they live along with coloured graphs doesn’t prove anything. Nor does the quoting of every utterance I ever made about China, including ‘I have friends in China’.”
“Indeed I do, as well as in the United States, Bhutan, France and England. I feel no need to apologize for this. ”
Germany’s main opposition leader Friedrich Merz backtracks to say that any form of cooperation with the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) is ruled out. https://t.co/T1UjZ6oOlw
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) August 29, 2023
He took particular umbrage with the outlet’s characterisation of his assistant, with the MEP taking particular issue with the article’s “ominous” description of Jian G.’s dealings with a woman named in the article as W.
Described by T-online as G.’s “closest business partner for almost ten years”, the article describes the pair as having at one point jointly owned a company with ties to China.
The publication also highlighted allegations that the assistant eventually handed over all of his shares in the company to W., something it deemed as noteworthy.
Krah dismissed any suggestion that these revelations were anything of note, stating that the article leaves out one key detail — G. and W. are married.
“My assistant Jian did not ‘collaborate’ with the ominous Ms W. — she is his wife!” he said, adding that G. had relinquished all his shares in the pair’s family business when he went to work for Krah in Brussels.
“They are long-time residents of my hometown, Dresden, and have a daughter. This family is now being painted as Chinese spies which feels a bit like how Americans of Japanese decent were treated during World War II.”
“For me, Jian is simply a hard-working assistant who happens to be of Chinese origin.”
They appear delusional about the impact their messaging on migrants could have on German voters, and about AfD’s momentum, which they keep playing down, writes @jrfjeffrey.@lilyslynch | @Raphfel | @moutet | @JuditVarga_EUhttps://t.co/phoX7mg9D3
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) July 28, 2023
