The far-right AfD reportedly knew about donations from a Dutch foundation earlier than previously thought. Leading party member Alice Weidel is already facing an investigation over another questionable donation.
The "Identiteit Europa" (European Identity) foundation donated €49,000 to the AfD's regional chapter in North Rhine-Westphalia in January 2016, according to German magazine Der Spiegel and the ARD public broadcaster.
Party officials returned the sum a week later, telling Identiteit Europa that accepting the donation would be illegal. The AfD's regional treasurer in North Rhine-Westphalia told the daily German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung that he and the party's national treasurer jointly decided to return the money.
German political spending laws ban payments made by charities on behalf of anonymous donors.
But the revelation raises questions about why Weidel, who received €150,000 from Identiteit Europa in February 2018, took three months to return that money despite her party's prior doubts about Identiteit Europa.
AfD leading candidate Alice Weidel talks to DW
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The head of the foundation, Floris Marinus Berkhout, refused to tell Der Spiegel or ARD the identity of the foundation's donors, but he said the money did not come from donors in Germany.
The AfD office in her constituency received around €130,000 in 18 tranches from a pharmaceutical company in Switzerland shortly before the 2017 general election. It kept €8,000 and returned the rest six months later.
German law restricts foreign donations from non-European Union countries to German citizens living outside the EU.
The friendly faces of the AfD? Germany's new parliamentary representatives
After the 2017 election, the far-right populist party enters the Bundestag for the first time. But who exactly are some of the Alternative for Germany's representatives — and what have they said and done?
Image: picture-alliance/NurPhoto/E. Contini
Siegbert Droese
The head of the AfD in Leipzig was the center of controversy in 2016 when newspapers reported that a car in his motor pool had the license plate: "AH 1818." "AH" are the initials of Adolf Hitler. 1 and 8, the first and eighth letters of the alphabet, are considered a code for Adolf Hitler among neo-Nazi groups.
Image: Imago/J. Jeske
Sebastian Münzenmaier
As the AfD's lead candidate in Rhineland-Palatinate, the 28-year-old Münzenmaier cruised to a seat in the Bundestag. Münzenmaier made headlines in October when he was convicted of being an accessory to assault in a case of football hooliganism. But because that's considered a minor offense, he is able to exercise his mandate.
Image: Imago/S. Ditscher
Albrecht Glaser
The 75-year-old former CDU man is the AfD's choice for Bundestag vice-president, but members of the other parties say they won't approve his candidacy. Glaser once opined that Muslims shouldn't enjoy freedom of religion because Islam is a political ideology. Critics reject that view as unconstitutional.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Kappeler
Markus Frohnmaier
Frohnmaier is the chair of the party's youth organization, Junge Alternative. The 28-year-old wrote in August 2016 on Facebook that "our generation will suffer the most" from Merkel's decision to "flood this country with the shoddy proletariat from Africa and the Orient."
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/B. Weißbrod
Martin Reichardt
The former soldier from Lower Saxony once told a journalist that he had no problem with "Germany for the Germans," a phrase that is often used by neo-Nazi groups. He has also collectively described the Green Party and The Left party as "constitutional enemy No. 1."
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Bein
Wilhelm von Gottberg
The 77-year-old from Brandenburg was vice president of the Federation of Expellees (BdV) until 2012. He wrote in the newspaper "Ostpreussenblatt" in 2001 that he agreed with the statement that the Holocaust was a "myth" and an "effective instrument to criminalize the Germans and their history."
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/T. Brakemeier
Jens Maier
In January, the Dresden judge railed against the "creation of mixed nationalities" that are "destroying national identity." He has also called for an end to Germany's "culture of guilt" surrounding the country's actions in the Second World War.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Kahnert
Beatrix von Storch
The AfD's vice-chair is an MP in the European parliament and is known for her hardline conservative views. In 2016, she replied affirmatively to a Facebook user who had asked her whether armed force should be used to stop women with children from illegally entering Germany. She later apologized for the comment.
Image: Reuters/W. Rattay
Alexander Gauland
One of the AfD's top candidates, Gauland was widely criticized after suggesting that the German government's commissioner for integration, Aydan Özoguz, should be "disposed of" in Turkey because she had said that there was no specifically German culture beyond the German language.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Murat
Alice Weidel
The 38-year-old economist was the AfD's other top candidate. Despite living in Switzerland, Weidel ran for the Baden-Württemberg constituency of Bodensee. She drew criticism for describing Germany's integration commissioner Aydan Özoguz, who has Turkish roots, as a "stain" and a "disgrace." In a contested email attributed to Weidel, she called Angela Merkel's government "pigs" and "puppets."
Image: Getty Images/S. Schuermann
Frauke Petry
For a long time Frauke Petry was the face of the AfD, and she's one of the more recognizable figures in the Bundestag. But she's no longer a member of the right-wing populist party. Petry quit shortly after the election after falling out with other leaders. Because she won her voting district outright, she still gets a Bundestag mandate, where she sits as an independent.
Image: picture-alliance/Eventpress
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Weidel has dismissed the allegations as an attempt to discredit her. The AfD's executive committee has also backed her, saying she had not committed any wrongdoing.
Looking to the next election
The donor scandal has overshadowed the AfD's party conference in Magdeburg, which began on Friday. Delegates elected the party's only lawmaker in the European Parliament, Jörg Meuthen, to lead the AfD's field of candidates for next year's European elections.
Friday also saw Germany's internal security agency announce that it would start surveilling the AfD's youth wing in Baden-Württemberg (JA BW).
The internal security agency office in the southern state said statements made by JA BW members were inconsistent with the country's constitution.
"The JA BW has links to right-wing extremists who appear to have anticonstitutional political aims," it said.