When Guido Reil once competed in the North Rhine-Westphalian state election campaign for the AfD, there were not only official election posters. In his constituency in Essen also hung posters, which acted like the official party advertising and yet were sponsored by foreign hands - with the help of the Swiss advertising agency Goal AG. The equivalent of the former campaign for Reil amounts to 44,500 euros, as recently confirmed by the Bundestag administration.

To date, it is unclear who the financiers are, the 2017 paid for Reil and the year before in the Baden-Württemberg state election campaign for the AfD co-chief Jörg Meuthen comparable relief operations. In the case of Meuthen leads a track, according to the latest research of SPIEGEL and the ARD policy magazine "Report Mainz" to resident in Switzerland German real estate billionaire Henning Conle and his family.

The Swiss magazine "Bilanz" had calculated in 2017 for the family association assets of 1.35 billion Swiss francs. Conle is originally from North Rhine-Westphalia's Duisburg.

Reil, who currently ranks second in the AfD's European list behind top candidate Meuthen, now denies having ever met the billionaire. "I do not know Mr. Conle or any of his family members, nor have I, as far as I am aware, been in contact with any of the Conles," said AfD Federal Councilor Reil at the request of SPIEGEL.

On the other hand, Meuthen behaves differently - the top candidate for the European elections on 26 May is not committed. At the end of last week, the AfD leader had already been informed by SPIEGEL and the ARD political magazine "Report Mainz" that he was not ready to say whether he knew Conle or not. In the ZDF program "Berlin direct" Meuthen then again refused to comment on it. In the interview with the ZDF journalist Theo Koll Meuthen repeatedly avoided:

Theo Koll: Has the real estate billionaire Henning Conle supported you financially?

Jörg Meuthen: I said clearly the day before yesterday that we will not communicate about it from now on. Because this game is always the same pattern and I will stick to it. That means: I will give in this donation thing opposite media representatives, also opposite you, no more information. We give full information to the Bundestag administration, we must, we do that from the beginning. What I can tell you - and really pure and good conscience - I have done nothing wrong, I have done nothing illegal. I have never said the untruth. Or lied.

Koll: Do you know Mr. Conle?

Meuthen: Again, I'll stick with it, I will not communicate that any further. Because if I answer you, I get - not from you but from others - ten more questions. Believe me. I have a European election campaign, I want to concentrate on my strength. And if I continue to feed the media here by answering questions, questions, questions that only evoke further questions, I can not do my actual work anymore. That's more important to me, God knows. We have a European election in May, because we want to achieve a really good result. That is decisive for me.

Only admit what is undeniable

Johannes Simon / Getty Images

European election campaign of the AfD in Offenburg: Gauland, Meuthen and Reil (fourth from left)

Meuthens Dodge on ZDF seems to be part of a strategy to grant in the financial affairs always only what is undeniable anyway. So he had in connection with the questionable campaign support of the Swiss PR agency Goal AG in the Baden-Württemberg state election campaign, which had revealed the ZDF magazine "Frontal 21", first of a "gratuitous friendship service" of the Goal chief Alexander Segert.

After further revelations of "Frontal 21" and the search center "Corrective" Meuthen then had to grant in August 2017 to have signed an exemption statement, which enabled the Goal AG to switch advertising campaigns in Meuthen's constituency. Their value later estimated the party at around 5300 euros.

Suddenly not so informed

Finally, in March 2019, under the pressure of threatening new revelations, Meuthen admitted that the advertising campaign of the Swiss Goal AG had in fact been much more expensive - namely around 90,000 euros. And: The campaign support was funded by ten supporters. "I can not name names for legal reasons," said Meuthen in an interview with the "Welt".

When SPIEGEL and "Report Mainz" then revealed that it is the ten alleged financiers to some paid mare, Meuthen was taciturn. The names were told to him by the Goal AG, on the submitted list "we were allowed and allowed to rely on us," said Meuthen.

The AfD boss did not want to comment on the track of the Meuthen-Strouteute to the controversial real estate billionaire Henning Conle, recently unveiled by SPIEGEL and "Report Mainz". Conle himself was not available for comment.