Justice exonerates Thuringia's CDU leader Voigt
Mario Voigt can breathe a sigh of relief: the public prosecutor's office in Erfurt sees no evidence of corruption on the part of the CDU state leader and has dropped the investigation against him. He is alleged to have received a fee for commissioning an internet agency, but was able to dispel the suspicion.
The public prosecutor's office in Erfurt has dropped the investigation into suspected bribery against Thuringia's CDU parliamentary group and state leader Mario Voigt. As a result of extensive investigations, "the suspicion has not been confirmed", the judicial authority announced.
The background to the investigation, which has been ongoing since September 2022, was Voigt's activity as head of the digital election campaign of the European People's Party (EPP) in the 2019 European election campaign. It was suspected that a contract had been awarded to a Thuringian internet agency in this context, which had paid him a consultancy fee. According to the public prosecutor's office, this was not confirmed.
The justice committee of the Thuringian state parliament lifted the immunity of the CDU parliamentary group leader in September last year in order to clear the way for the investigation. Voigt himself repeatedly affirmed that he was not guilty of anything. He also published the annual financial statements of his business activities on his website.
Searches in Thuringia and Brussels
The public prosecutor's office in Erfurt and the Thuringian State Criminal Police Office searched the CDU politician's apartments and business premises in October last year and confiscated evidence. The EPP headquarters in Brussels were also searched.
Voigt has been head of the CDU parliamentary group in the Thuringian state parliament since March 2020 and has also led the state party since September last year. The political scientist has been a member of the Erfurt state parliament since 2009. Voigt intends to stand as the CDU's lead candidate in the state elections on September 1 next year.
Source: www.ntv.de
