Criminal charges against CDU state parliamentary group under investigation
The public prosecutor's office in Magdeburg is investigating a criminal complaint filed by the Saxony-Anhalt Taxpayers' Association against the CDU state parliamentary group. The association had filed a criminal complaint on suspicion of misappropriation of taxpayers' money. The background to this are allowances paid by the parliamentary group for certain functions. In total, payments of at least 113,250 euros are involved. The public prosecutor's office confirmed on Tuesday that the complaint was received in mid-October. A spokesperson explained that it was being examined whether criminal offenses could be derived from the content of the complaint.
The chairman of the CDU parliamentary group, Guido Heuer, announced on Monday that the parliamentary group was not yet aware of the criminal complaint. It was therefore not possible to comment on the ongoing investigation. "The CDU parliamentary group in the state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt has always properly informed the state parliament administration about income and expenditure."
As part of a parliamentary reform in 2020, it was stipulated that only the president of the state parliament, the vice presidents, the parliamentary group chairmen and the parliamentary directors would receive additional compensation for their functions. The Taxpayers' Association stated that any additional payments for special parliamentary functions from parliamentary group funds were not permitted. However, corresponding payments were reported in the CDU parliamentary group's accounts in both 2021 and 2022.
The CDU parliamentary group's handling of party finances has come under scrutiny, as they are accused of paying allowances for certain functions that allegedly exceeded what was permitted by the 2020 parliamentary reform. Various political parties in the Parliament have different stances on how these taxpayer funds should be utilized for parliamentary functions and associated allowances.
Source: www.dpa.com
