The human trafficking scandal involving wealthy Chinese and purchased residence permits is entering the next round. Now an SPD politician has made a comprehensive confession - while the public prosecutor's office is also investigating the CDU district administrator of Düren.
Düren -
The head of staff in the Düren administration, Jens Bröker (SPD), has
confessed to having accepted six-figure bribes from a gang of people
smugglers. Bröker had already spent two and a half months in custody and
has now given extensive testimony, as the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger
reports. Since 2018, he has received around 300,000 euros to influence
District Administrator Wolfgang Spelthahn (CDU) and the immigration
authorities, the newspaper writes, citing interrogation records in its
possession.
Bröker introduced wealthy Chinese people to the
smugglers and received between 500 and 1,500 euros in cash per
applicant. He also stressed that he had not given any of his illegal
earnings to District Administrator Spelthahn.
CDU district administrator is also said to have helped smugglers
Meanwhile,
the Düsseldorf public prosecutor's office is also investigating the CDU
politician on suspicion of bribery and commercial smuggling of
foreigners. Spelthahn is said to have helped in 81 cases to obtain
residence permits for Chinese nationals who had immigrated illegally
through the smuggling network. His lawyer denies this.
In a
sensational raid in eight federal states on April 17, ten suspected
members of a gang of people smugglers were arrested. As Junge Freiheit
reported, but otherwise mostly kept quiet, the accused include Bröker
and two CDU politicians. Among them is the long-standing district
administrator of the Rhein-Erft district, Werner Stump. He is now the
managing director of the hotel company of the Villa Sophienhöhe in
Kerpen.
In total, the police searched around 100 residential and
business premises. The targets are 38 suspected gang members and 147
people who are believed to have been smuggled. If family members who
were brought in later are included, the number of Chinese nationals is
around 350, according to investigators. In total, they are said to have
paid nine million euros for their smuggling to Germany.
Source: Junge Freiheit