Stuttgart (dpa / lsw) – The Baden-Württemberg AfD parliamentary group leader Bernd Gögel has received a penalty order for allegations of undeclared work. The district court in Pforzheim imposed a fine of 140 daily rates of 195 euros each on allegations of withholding and embezzlement of wages, as a spokesman for the competent public prosecutor’s office in Karlsruhe confirmed on Monday. That would be a total of 27,300 euros. The “Badische Latest News” reported about it first.
Gögel would have a criminal record if he accepted the penalty order. However, a spokesman for the AfD parliamentary group in the state parliament said that Gögel had appealed the decision. This should lead to a process.
So far, the 67-year-old Gögel has not wanted to comment specifically on the allegations because it is an ongoing process. From 2003 he was a self-employed forwarding agent and managing director in Sulz am Neckar, as can be seen from his CV on the website of the state parliament. The group spokesman explained that the forwarding company was discontinued in 2017. The Standing Committee of the state parliament reportedly decided in September 2022 to lift the MP’s immunity.