AfD donation affair: court confirms fine

Enlarge image

AfD faction leader Alice Weidel

Photo:

IMAGO/Political Moments

The Higher Administrative Court of Berlin-Brandenburg has confirmed a decision according to which the AfD has to pay a fine of 396,000 euros in the donation affair involving parliamentary group leader Alice Weidel.

The party's appeal against a previous decision by the Berlin Administrative Court had been rejected, the Higher Administrative Court announced.

The background to this are payments before the 2017 general election. At that time, two companies based in Switzerland had transferred around 132,000 euros to the business account of the Baden-Württemberg district association of Weidel.

The intended purpose was "campaign donation Alice Weidel Social Media".

Court did not follow AfD arguments

The Bundestag interpreted this as a forbidden acceptance of anonymous donations and imposed a fine of three times the amount transferred.

On the other hand, the AfD defended itself before the administrative court.

The party argued that it was a direct donation to Weidel and not a party donation.

The court did not follow this view, but found that it was a "donation within the meaning of the party law".

The decisive factor is that the money was received in the party account and remained within the party's control and that bills were also paid with it.

The AfD's argument that the donations had been repaid in 2018 was not convincing either.

Like the Bundestag administration, the administrative court also found that the period between donation and repayment was too long.

The AfD did not return the donations immediately, but only between seven and nine months after receipt of payment.

Decision not yet final

Before the higher administrative court, the AfD argued again that it was a direct donation to Weidel personally.

The Higher Administrative Court did not follow this argument either.

Due to the “circumstances of the individual case”, which include the transfer to the party account, the donation is presented as a party donation and not as a direct donation.

A revision was not allowed.

However, the decision is not yet final.

The AfD can appeal against the non-admission to the Federal Administrative Court.

Ulz/AFP