Search of the EPP headquarters in Brussels due to a corruption investigation against a German Christian Democrat | Abroad

Investigators were looking for information and documents about Voigt’s work as head of digital election campaigning for the 2019 European election campaign. A spokesperson for the Public Prosecutor’s Office (OM) in Erfurt confirmed the search to regional broadcaster MDR .

Voigt was appointed in March 2019 as a digital campaign manager in the European campaign team of EPP Group President Manfred Weber (CSU) and the European People’s Party. When searching for documents, it is mainly a question of placing an order with an internet company in the city of Jena (Thuringia), explained the spokesperson for OM. This company would have obtained a contract for the digital electoral campaign for the European elections. In return, Voigt would have received money, suspects OM.

During the searches in Brussels, detectives investigated whether and, if so, how Voigt could have been involved in the awarding of this contract. “We are looking for anything that can be used to legally qualify the suspect’s activity with the EVP,” said the OM spokesperson quoted by the television channel. According to the spokesman, the detectives also wanted to hear from possible witnesses and the investigation has not yet been directed against the employees of the European People’s Party.

Voigt is currently CDU leader and party leader in Thuringia. The 40-year-old has denied the allegations from the start. His lawyers would not comment on the searches at the EPP headquarters in Brussels on Tuesday.

According to preliminary information, investigators seized computers on the first and third floors of the building, reported the Euractiv news agency, which specializes in European Union politics, citing a source familiar with the matter.

The Thuringian state parliament lifted Voigt’s political immunity in mid-September pending the criminal investigation. In mid-October 2022, searches took place at his home and in his workspaces. The case is said to have started after clues were discovered during a raid on the internet company in Jena as part of another investigation.

The EPP confirmed the police raid in a post on its website. The visit is linked to an ongoing investigation in Thuringia, Germany. The party told the MDR it was “fully cooperating with the authorities”, but declined to comment further.

The conservative EPP is the oldest and largest political group in the European Parliament. European People’s Party sources say the case has nothing to do with corruption in other countries, such as in the Qatargate scandal.