Jan van Aken, chairman of the Left party, has called on the German federal parliamentary administration to investigate alleged nepotism within the Alternative for Germany (AfD) parliamentary group. The demand stems from reports of family ties in the AfD state parliamentary group in Saxony‑Anhalt, where family members were allegedly hired across factions and parliamentary offices and paid from public funds.
“In the national AfD, if corrupt officials supply their relatives with party jobs, it amounts to the worst form of clannish crime” Van Aken said to “Bild”. “If this occurs across so many state associations, it means there is a system behind it – and that system must be exposed, even at the federal level”.
He urged the Bundestag administration to review the employment contracts of AfD members and their staff for familial connections. “If relatives have been hired, they must be dismissed. The AfD group must immediately repay the misappropriated employee allowance to the state” Van Aken added. He called for a blanket ban on the so‑called “cross‑reference contracts” that were intended to hide conflicts of interest, both in the federal parliament and in state parliaments.
Additionally, the administration should examine external contracts handled by the AfD group, to determine whether relatives benefitted from these arrangements. Van Aken warned that it was essential to investigate if family members were “indulging in princely remuneration” from such contracts.