Searches on SPD candidate Krach: A question of tact

Is this all happening correctly? Many people are asking themselves this after the Hanover public prosecutor's office had several rooms of the SPD's top candidate for the Berlin House of Representatives election, Steffen Krach, searched - just a few days before this election.

On the one hand, the question arises as to whether the raid was justified at all, and on the other hand, it is questionable whether the timing shortly before the election was appropriate.

Little is known about the investigation against Krach. Above all, it is unclear when the public prosecutor's office found out that Krach (according to his own statements) ordered that the sensitive investor donation be transferred back within a day. However, an urgent suspicion of a crime is not necessary for an apartment search. A simple initial suspicion of a crime is sufficient.

There is no fixed regulation as to whether a politician can be investigated and searched in a public manner shortly before the election. The respective parliament must lift the immunity of members of parliament. This is supposedly intended to prevent political influence from the executive branch. In fact, this means that the investigation becomes known to the political opponent at an early stage, who then often leaks the information to the press.

In this case, Krach was not a member of the Lower Saxony state parliament anyway, but rather the President of the Hanover region on leave. Even as a candidate for the House of Representatives election, Krach does not enjoy immunity. Here it is primarily a question of the public prosecutor's tact as to whether the search really had to be so close to the election in which Krach is running as a candidate. It is not yet known whether the search could easily have taken place after the election. However, if there is any truth to the allegations against Krach, it wouldn't be a bad idea to find out before the election. It's not that easy to do with tact.

The fact that the Berlin public prosecutor's office, for which the CDU Justice Senator Felor Badenberg is responsible, is not investigating the suspicion of political influence by the competition. Lower Saxony's Justice Minister Kathrin Wahlmann, an SPD politician, is responsible for the Hanover public prosecutor's office.

She probably knew about the investigations against party colleague Krach because sensitive cases are usually presented to the ministry. But she probably consciously did not exert any influence on Krach's behalf - because that in turn could have harmed her politically.

So if anyone had bad intentions against Krach, it was probably those responsible at the Hanover public prosecutor's office. This is currently also investigating - in a very balanced way - in the environment of the CDU's Hanover mayoral candidate, Peter Karst. Karst is the general manager of the Hanover Chamber of Crafts. Searches took place there on Thursday morning. The investigation is probably due to unpaid social security contributions.

The suspicion of influence was clearer when the police arrived at the Federal Ministry of Finance with a search warrant shortly before the federal election in 2021. Finance Minister Olaf Scholz was the SPD candidate for chancellor at the time. The search was initiated by the Osnabrück public prosecutor's office, whose head is a CDU member. The Osnabrück regional court later classified the search as unlawful. The ministry and the minister, as witnesses to suspected money laundering, could first have been asked to hand over the necessary documents.

Shortly before the state elections in Thuringia in 2024, there was even a court case against AfD state leader Björn Höcke, which he described as politically motivated. He was accused of using a banned SA slogan; Höcke said he did not know the background to the slogan “Everything for Germany”. He was convicted anyway, but the court didn't believe him. However, Höcke's conviction did not harm the Thuringian AfD, just as nothing is currently harming the party.

Steffen Krach, on the other hand, will lose the election resoundingly – with or without an investigation.