German politician ‘filmed taking Russian money’
German politician ‘filmed taking Russian money’
Petr Bystron, of far-Right AfD party, allegedly given €20,000 by pro-Kremlin broadcaster
A German politician has been filmed taking large sums of cash from a Kremlin-supporting broadcaster, Czech intelligence has claimed.
Petr Bystron, who is standing for Alternative for Germany (AfD) at European parliamentary elections in June, allegedly received €20,000 (£17,000) in cash from the manager of a Russian propaganda network while sitting in a parked car, recordings indicate.
Mr Bystron, who also sits on the Bundestag’s foreign affairs committee, has previously denied allegations of taking Russian money as a “defamation campaign”.
The Security Information Service (BIS), the Czech Republic’s domestic intelligence agency, now says Mr Bystron met with Artem Marchevsky, who allegedly managed a Kremlin-backed propaganda front called Voice of Europe, at least three times in the past six months.
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Don't know what can 20k euro achieve. Russia must be lacking of money.
This may have been one of a series of payments. This is only one that leeked.
Very likely this. Transfers above a certain threshold are automatically looked into to prevent money laundering, so getting a big bunch of cash at once is less convenient than getting several, smaller payments.
You think this is going through the bank?
I would think so, yeah. Purchases of over 10,000€ are automatically put under investigation, so a larger bribe would be tedious to launder. I'm not a money laundering expert tho, so I don't know how they do it. That's just how I would prefer to be bribed, I guess lol
In this case it was €20k in cash. Other ways is 'after dinner" speaking fees.
Small enough to not get noticed, too little to cover their lifestyle for long, yet too convenient to not take :)
The big paydays usually happen through companies the politician and his ilk are in the board of, which just score very lucrative contracts or orders time after time. Or the politician is hired as a consultant for such companies, collecting fabulous kickbacks. Or the promise of early retirement into "window-looking jobs," employment where they have a title, high income and zero responsibilities.
If your blackmailing someone forcing them to take cash from you can them be used to blackmail the person further. They can press on them more, because they are now collaborators and won't get any symphony from the public or a jury.
To be fair, I doubt the public would give them a symphony either way. Seems like it'd be expensive and require a lot of training.