Henning Conle (born February 1944) is a UK-based German-SwissSebastian Pittelkow, Katja Riedel, Georg Wellmann

In: tagesschau.de vom 4. April 2019.

billionaire A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least one billion (1,000,000,000, i.e., a thousand million) units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. The American busin ...

property owner. Through a

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein (german: link=no, Fürstentum Liechtenstein), is a German-speaking microstate located in the Alps between Austria and Switzerland. Liechtenstein is a semi-constitutional monarchy ...

-registered company, Sirosa, Conle owns "almost £2bn of prime real estate" in central

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, including the Liberty of London building, the

Kensington Roof Gardens Kensington Roof Gardens (formerly known as Derry and Toms Roof Gardens and later The Roof Gardens) is a private roof garden covering on top of the former Derry & Toms building on Kensington High Street in central London. Originally opened in ...

, the London offices of

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

and the art deco Shell Mex House on the Strand. In Germany, Conle may own "more than 10,000 properties", and in

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, owned up to 2,500 flats in the 1990s. Conle is "long-renowned in his home country of Germany for shoddy buildings and acrimonious tenant disputes". In 2013, Conle purchased the Kensington Roof Gardens through a company, Cartina Kensington Ltd, registered in the

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and owned by Sirosa Anstalt. The property was purchased for £225 million, £25 million higher than the closest bidder – the Qatar Investment Authority. There has been speculation that Conle acts on behalf of Russian investors, though representatives for Sirosa Have denied this. In 2018 media investigations shows, that Conle is involved in

AfD donation scandal The Alternative for Germany donation scandal (german: AfD-Spendenaffäre) was a political scandal that broke in 2018 in which the Alternative for Germany party (AfD) was found to have accepted financial contributions in contravention of conditions ...

by illegal financing politicians of Germany's right-wing party "

Alternative for Germany Alternative for Germany (german: link=no, Alternative für Deutschland, AfD; ) is a right-wing populist * * * * * * * political party in Germany. AfD is known for its opposition to the European Union, as well as immigration to Germany. I ...

", especially

Alice Weidel Alice Elisabeth Weidel (born 6 February 1979) is a German politician and has been the leader of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the Bundestag since October 2017. She has been a member of the Bundestag (MdB) since the 2017 federal election d ...

. Other companies owned by Conle include the British-registered Strandbrook, of which Conle and his daughter Johanna Conle are registered officers. According to The ''

Sunday Times Rich List The ''Sunday Times Rich List'' is a list of the 1,000 wealthiest people or families resident in the United Kingdom ranked by net wealth. The list is updated annually in April and published as a magazine supplement by British national Sunday news ...

'' in 2020 his net worth was estimated at £1.168 billion.

Financing of AfD

Conle is a supporter of the far-right political party

. Conle donated a total of Euro 132,000 by means of straw men for the federal election campaign of the AfD parliamentary group leader

. Conle disguised his donation from Switzerland and is also involved in the

Frauke Petry Frauke Petry (; ; born 1 June 1975) is a German politician who chaired the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party from July 2015 to September 2017. A chemist by training and with a professional background as a businesswoman, some political scientis ...

, former AfD party leader, reported in an interview that Conle had already offered donations to the AfD in 2015, but wanted to stay in the background. Anonymous donations to political parties are illegal in Germany. Petry met Conle several times between October 2015 and May 2016 in Leipzig and Zurich. At a meeting in Switzerland, Jörg Meuthen AfD Co-party leader is said to have been also there. The Bundestag administration has also declared a donation to him to be illegal.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Conle, Henning 1944 births Living people German billionaires