Accused Chinese spy previously sought job at Germany's intel agency

A suspected Chinese spy who worked as a top aide to a far-right German politician in the European Parliament had previously applied to work for Germany's foreign intelligence agency, the BND.

The accused spy, Jian Guo, was turned down by the BND several years ago, according to information obtained by dpa. The man also reportedly applied to work for the BfV domestic security service in the eastern German state of Saxony but was rejected as unreliable.

German public broadcaster ARD first reported on his previous applications.

Jian Guo was dismissed by Maximillian Krah, the far-right Alternative for Germany's (AfD) top lawmaker in the European Parliament, earlier this week following his arrest on suspicion of espionage.

Prosecutors allege that the man passed sensitive information from inside the European Parliament to Chinese intelligence, and also may have relayed information about Chinese political activists living in Europe.

He was arrested by German police on Monday evening and has been held in custody since. He is accused of acting as an agent for a foreign secret service.

Krah, who is the AfD's lead candidate for the upcoming European Parliament elections in June, has faced pointed questions over his close working relationship with Jian Guo as well as his own views that are sympathetic to Russia.

German prosecutors on Wednesday announced that there is a separate preliminary investigation into Krah related to possible payments from both Russia and China.

The public prosecutor's office in Dresden said the purpose of the probe is to examine whether there is any reason to suspect criminal conduct involving bribery of members of parliament.