2024-05-09 04:02:29
Did smugglers, with the help of a CDU politician, make it possible to bring rich people to Germany? The public prosecutor’s office is investigating.
In connection with investigations against a gang of smugglers, a CDU politician from the Rhein-Erft district (North Rhine-Westphalia) was searched. A spokesman for the Düsseldorf public prosecutor’s office confirmed a corresponding report in the “Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger” on Wednesday.
The background is therefore a dubious party donation. One of the two main suspects in the smuggling network is said to have donated around 15,000 euros to the CDU two years ago. According to the “Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger”, a total of almost 53,000 euros have flowed to the CDU since 2020. There should be eight individual donations. According to the report, the donations came from a lawyer in Frechen or one of his 16 companies.
The public prosecutor’s office is now examining whether the CDU politician opened doors at immigration offices in return. There is an initial suspicion, said the spokesman.
Donated five-figure amounts per year
In connection with investigations into a suspected smuggling gang, the CDU is retroactively examining donations received from the past ten years. “During internal checks, it was found that the accused had made donations to district associations and branches of the CDU in the past,” said a spokesman for the CDU North Rhine-Westphalia on Wednesday.
The party has now asked all district associations to check all donations received over the past ten years for donations from the accused and his company network. The feedback was requested by Friday. The first ones already exist.
The individual payments that the speaker mentioned are sums in the four-digit euro range from 2020 to 2023. If you add them up, you can get five-digit amounts per year. They went to the CDU Rhein-Erft-Kreis, the CDU Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis, the Junge Union NRW and the Junge Union Deutschlands.
360,000 euros for a residence permit
The smuggling gang is said to have sold residence permits in Germany to rich people from China and Oman. According to previous information from investigators, arranging a residence permit cost 360,000 euros. Three weeks ago, officials searched properties in eight federal states in a major raid.
Ten suspects were arrested. In seven cases, pre-trial detention has now been suspended under certain conditions, said the spokesman for the public prosecutor’s office. The main suspects are two 42 and 46 year old lawyers from the Cologne area. While the 42-year-old is in custody, the 46-year-old is still at large, the spokesman said.