The Alternative for Germany donation scandal () was a

political scandal In politics, a political scandal is an action or event regarded as morally or legally wrong and causing general public outrage. Politicians, government officials, Political party, party officials and Lobbying, lobbyists can be accused of various ...

that broke in 2018 in which the

Alternative for Germany Alternative for Germany (, AfD, ) is a Far-right politics in Germany (1945–present), far-right,Far-right: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Right-wing populism, right-wing populist and National conservatism, national-conservative p ...

party (AfD) was found to have accepted financial contributions in contravention of conditions within German laws regulating donations to political parties. In the three months leading up to the 2017 general election the AfD regional office for the

Lake Constance Lake Constance (, ) refers to three bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (''Obersee''), Lower Lake Constance (''Untersee''), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Seerhein (). These ...

area received 18 weekly payments totalling 132,000 euros documented as "campaign donations for

Alice Weidel Alice Elisabeth Weidel (; born 6 February 1979) is a German far-right politician who has been serving as of the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party alongside Tino Chrupalla since June 2022. Since October 2017, she has held ...

". Alice Weidel is deputy chairman of the regional party organisation and co-chair of the AfD parliamentary group in the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the lower house of the Germany, German Federalism in Germany, federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag wa ...

. At the beginning of 2018 they received a further 150,000 euros. These were not declared as required by law and apparently disguised as to their true source and aggregate amount. Further irregular contributions to AfD party politicians were identified, including to Jörg Meuthen, Guido Reil and Marcus Petzell. According to media reports, the payments came from billionaire property tycoon Henning Conle though several intermediaries and split into smaller amounts. The AfD has been ordered to pay over 500,000 euros to the federal government, including the illegal sums and penalties.

References

{{reflist 2018 in Germany Political scandals in Germany Donation scandal