This article is more than 6 months old

This article is more than 6 months old

A company controlled by a property magnate who allegedly funded Germany’s main far-right party recently gave £50,000 to an elite organisation that donates large sums of money to the Conservative party.

The firm, which is co–run by Henning Conle, gave the donation in January to the Carlton Club, an institution described as the spiritual home of the Tories.

The private club in an upmarket area of central London has raised and donated nearly £1m to the party in the last two decades.

The club, which describes itself as “one of London’s foremost members-only clubs”, did not respond when asked if it intended to pass the donation from Conle to the party.

A series of German media reports have claimed Conle was the ultimate source of a donation of €132,000 (£115,000) to the anti-immigrant Alternative für Deutschland (AfD). German prosecutors are investigating AfD over the legality of the donation and its source.

Conle has also given money to the far-right, anti-immigrant Swiss People’s party, which thanked him for a donation in 2017.

Conle’s financial and legal representatives did not respond when approached by the Guardian for comment.

The low-profile Conle, 76, built up a property empire over many decades in Germany. He has also emerged as one of the biggest investors in London property in recent years, buying a series of historic buildings in the city centre.

They include buildings that house department stores such as Liberty and House of Fraser, the art deco Shell Mex House on the Strand, the Kensington Roof Gardens complex and the London offices of Manchester United.

The donation to the Carlton Club was made on 22 January by Strandbrook, a property firm based in Mayfair, London. Conle and his daughter, Johanna, are listed as the firm’s two directors.

The funds were declared as a political donation by the Carlton Club to the Electoral Commission, the watchdog that oversees the funding of political parties in the UK.

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The Carlton Club was founded in 1832 as the original home of the Conservative party. Its website says: “Membership was a badge of allegiance to the Conservative party and the club provided the core of the party’s organisation for many decades.”

Many leading Tory politicians, including David Cameron and Theresa May, have been members. The club in St James’s says it continues to uphold Conservative values in its day-to-day activities.

Electoral Commission records show that the club and its political committee have donated to the party’s headquarters and specific constituencies around the country since 2001, including during the last general election. It has not donated to other political parties.

AfD was founded in 2013 and initially tapped into German resentment over Greek bailouts during the eurozone crisis. It has drifted further to the right, shedding several leaders along the way.

The party has taken an overtly nationalistic, xenophobic stance on immigration matters since the 2015 refugee crisis, and one of its figureheads has advocated a “180-degree turn” from the German tradition of remembering and atoning for the Nazi era.

In the run-up to the September 2017 election, when AfD entered the German parliament for the first time, its co-leader Alice Weidel’s party branch received a donation of €132,000 from a Swiss drugs company.

When the German parliamentary authorities examined the donation, AfD said the Swiss company had made it on behalf of several private donors.

AfD produced a list of 14 EU citizens who it said had contributed to the donation. Some of the individuals claimed they had received money to lend their names to the donation.

Reports in the German media, including on the public broadcaster’s flagship news programme Tagesschau, have suggested the donations can ultimately be traced back to Conle. He has not commented publicly on the suggestion.

German prosecutors have been examining the donation, because it is unlawful in Germany for political parties to accept donations over a certain limit from disguised sources.

Conle has in the past also financially supported the Swiss People’s party, a rightwing nationalist party that campaigns for tighter immigration laws, advocates small government and led a referendum defeat of Switzerland’s bid to join the EEA in 1992.

In the March 2017 issue of its party organ, Der Zürcher Bote, the SVP thanked Conle for being one of the “generous sponsors” of the 100th-anniversary party of its Zurich branch.