Germany: the founder of Querdenken, the anti-Covid restrictions movement, is arrested on suspicion of fraud

The founder of the Querdenken (Lateral Thinking) movement, Michael Ballweg, was imprisoned yesterday evening on suspicion of cheating supporters out of more than half a million euros. Political opponents had long claimed that the 47-year-old enriched himself by collecting donations. A lawyer for the movement, on the other hand, speaks of an “illegal state”.

According to the Stuttgart police and public prosecutor's office, it's not just about cheating on donors. They also accuse the entrepreneur of money laundering in the amount of 430,000 euros. Because there is a risk of absconding, a judge issued an arrest warrant last night. Querdenker is one of the most important organizations mobilizing against the corona restrictions. The movement brought hundreds of thousands to the streets. The state had many demonstrations banned or dissolved.

Ballweg has allegedly raised financial contributions since May 2020 with the help of public appeals, but deceived the donors about the use and used the money privately. It is about “an amount higher six-digit”. According to Focus, it should be 640,000 euros. Simultaneously with Ballweg's arrest, officials executed search warrants in two of the businessman's apartments and business premises. Suspicious assets were also confiscated.

Consequence of his “political activities”?
Lawyer Ralf Ludwig from Querdenker described the allegations as “constructed” on Telegram on Wednesday. Rather, the allegations are a consequence of the "political activities" of the entrepreneur. It is important to appeal to rule-of-law procedures “even in an unlawful state”.

For some time now, Ballweg's political opponents have been accusing him of enriching himself through his movement. Giulia Silberberger, managing director of the organization Der goldene Aluhut (The Golden Aluminium Hat), which takes action against actual and alleged conspiracy theories, reported Ballweg to the tax investigation department two years ago.

The Baden-Württemberg anti-Semitism commissioner Michael Blume recently accused Ballweg of "commercial fraud". He also presented this assessment to the police and the state finance minister Danyal Bayaz (Greens), Blume said at the time to the Südwest Presse. Now the investigators acted.

Ballweg had always rejected the allegations and asserted that he "complied with all legal requirements" and had "not used any income from the donations for himself privately".

Ballweg asks for "gifts"
Querdenken constantly asked its followers for financial support. Ballweg gave his private account for this. According to the movement's website, the local Volksbank terminated the accounts of both the private individual Ballweg and Querdenken on May 22nd. The organization's PayPal account had been blocked two months earlier. At least the reason for use that the supporters should enter is unusual: the website still says today that donors should “please enter GIFT in the subject line”.

In its current report, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution recently assumed that the movement was calling for the overthrow of the political order.

Source: Junge Freiheit