German MP was under investigation
A GERMAN politician who died in Limerick, after her transatlantic flight diverted to Shannon Airport, was under investigation for a socalled ‘Azerbaijani laundromat’ fraud and bribery scheme, the Irish Mail on Sunday has learned.
According to reports, Karin Strenz, 53, was caught up in a lobbying scandal in 2019, when she was suspected of taking bribes from the government of Azerbaijan in return for lobbying on its behalf.
Reports in Germany’s Der Spiegel newspaper said she was suspected of taking €4m in bribes over shell companies based in the UK.
The investigation led to a raid on the properties of Ms Strenz, who had been a member of Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union party and a member of the German federal parliament, the Bundestag, since 2009. From 2002 to 2006 and from 2007 to 2009 she was a member of the state parliament in the northeast. She was last on the defence committee in the
Bundestag.
In an extraordinary move, the Bundestag voted to waive Strenz’s parliamentary immunity and approved search and seizure orders.
The raids were part of an investigation by the Frankfurt Prosecutor’s Office and the Federal Criminal Police Office of Germany into an alleged large-scale campaign of bribery of German politicians by the Azerbaijani government.
Investigators searched 16 properties belonging to Ms Strenz, including her offices and apartment, as well as other apartments, business premises and offices owned by the MP in Berlin, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Bavaria and Belgium.
Ms Strenz was on a flight from Cuba to Germany with her husband when she fell ill.
The Condor flight DE was en route from Varadero in Cuba to Frankfurt, Germany, when the crew declared a medical emergency while the flight was still west of Ireland.
The crew requested clearance to divert to Shannon Airport, asking that emergency medical services be on standby for their arrival.
It is understood Ms Strenz had suffered a ‘cardiac incident’.
She was taken by ambulance to University Hospital Limerick where she later died. A post-mortem is underway.