The German Bundestag today lifted the immunity of AfD parliamentary group leader Alexander Gauland in order to enable the public prosecutor to investigate suspected tax evasion. In the case, there should still be searches today, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office in Frankfurt am Main told the AFP news agency.
Immunity waived
The judicial procedure was made possible in the morning by the Bundestag’s decision to waive Gauland’s immunity. With the decision, Parliament enabled the “enforcement of judicial search and seizure orders” against Gauland, as stated in the adopted bill. The parliamentarians thus complied with a recommendation from the Committee on Election Examination, Immunity and Rules of Procedure.
The decision of the Immunity Committee was put on the Bundestag’s agenda at short notice and was immediately voted without debate.
AfD: It’s about old procedures
A spokesman for the AfD faction told the AFP news agency that the Gauland investigation was „about an old case from the year before last“. The group wanted to give a more detailed position in the afternoon.
Application also against CDU politician
The Bundestag approved yet another application for approval of searches and seizures. This concerned the CDU politician Karin Strenz. It is unclear exactly what this is about.
Last year, the Bundestag fined Strenz just under 20,000 euros for being involved in a scandal involving bribes from the authoritarian Caucasus Republic of Azerbaijan as a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
