Michael Ballweg rose to prominence as the leader of the Querdenken (“lateral thinking”) movement in Germany during the early phase of protests against the COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions in 2020. He has now been arrested, and will be in state custody indefinitely.

Many thanks to MissPiggy for translating this video report, and to Vlad Tepes and RAIR Foundation for the subtitling:

Below is an article about the arrest of Mr. Ballweg from Politically Incorrect, also translated by MissPiggy:

“Michael Ballweg Could Remain Imprisoned For A Long Time”

by Manfred Rouhs

Michael Ballweg, the founder of the Querdenken movement, is in custody. He is accused of planning his escape and fraudulent handling of donations totalling €640,000 euros. An entire team of lawyers is defending him. Among them is Ralf Dalla Fini, who, according to media reports, does not expect his client to be released in the near future.

Anyone who receives donations must account for them. Associations must submit their financial records to their local tax office for corporations. Income may only be used in accordance with the articles of association. A receipt must be kept for every cent spent by the association — for ten years.

Political parties are required to submit an annual statement of accounts to the Bundestag administration, which must be certified by an auditor. The auditor’s work costs money, usually in the five-digit euro range. An auditor may come under pressure if he certifies the accounts of an officially undesirable political party. This does not make his work any cheaper; rather the opposite.

Michael Ballweg’s Querdenken (Lateral Thinking) movement never had any worries of this kind. The 47-year-old apparently took in several hundred thousand euros, mostly in small amounts, as donations. He did not owe his supporters anything in return and caused a public hullabaloo.

Whether there was any money left over after that, and what became of it, is something the police are now reportedly trying to determine. It is difficult to estimate what will come of this.

Provocateurs can easily stage an accusation of fraud in connection with donations. The acceptance of gifts is generally legally problematic if there is neither a relationship of kinship nor a special personal relationship of trust between the parties involved.

Mass gifts regularly arouse the suspicion of the tax authorities. They can arbitrarily construct anything they like — and the person who took the money then has to prove them wrong.

The idea of financing a politically undesirable protest movement through donations is daring. In my estimation, and based on my experience with auditors, the Bundestag administration and especially the tax office, the matter will not end well.

Also: a mainstream media article (which says pretty much the same as the PI News article).

Video transcript: