Berlin, Germany, October 6 (ANI): German Federal Criminal Police Office agents have arrested former Federal Intelligence Service (BND) President August Hanning and his former chief of staff, Manfred D., on serious charges including treasonous espionage, spying on state secrets, attempted treason and espionage, Euronews reported.
In an official statement, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office said the two German nationals were taken into custody Tuesday in Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen County, Bavaria, and Steinfurt County, North Rhine-Westphalia, pursuant to warrants issued by an investigating judge at the Federal Court of Justice. Law enforcement officers simultaneously searched properties in both locations and in Berlin.
Hanning, who served as president of the BND from December 1998 to November 2005 and later as state secretary at the Federal Ministry of the Interior from December 2005 to November 2009, is “strongly suspected of treasonous espionage, spying out state secrets, attempted treason and espionage.”
Manfred D., who served as Hanning’s chief of staff at the BND and as a parliamentary assistant at the Interior Ministry before returning as chief of staff for several subsequent BND presidents from March 2012 to March 2026, is charged with “aiding and abetting attempted treason and treasonous espionage.”
According to federal prosecutors, the two suspects agreed in spring 2010 that Manfred D. would systematically leak confidential intelligence files to Hanning in exchange for payment.
Over the years, Manfred D. allegedly provided Hanning with approximately 2,000 documents, many of which contained restricted intelligence intended strictly for internal agency use and executive briefings involving senior officials from federal ministries and German security agencies at the Federal Chancellery.
Investigators said Hanning used the classified material to enhance his private consulting services. Prosecutors stated that on one occasion, Hanning “used classified intelligence provided by Manfred D. to draft an analysis for an officer of a foreign intelligence service,” although it remains unclear whether the report reached its intended recipient.
Furthermore, Hanning was allegedly “in close contact with a representative of another foreign intelligence service, to whom he passed on political information, partially based on material provided by Manfred D., for several years.”
The wide-ranging investigation began after Hamburg prosecutors searched Hanning’s property in September 2025 as part of an investigation involving German businesswoman Christina Block and alleged leaks from the Chancellery.
Euronews, citing reports by German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and public broadcasters WDR and NDR, previously reported that evidence uncovered during those proceedings pointed to the unauthorized handling of sensitive state documents.
The Federal Prosecutor’s Office officially took over the investigation in early May 2026, conducting the probe alongside the BND and the Federal Criminal Police Office.
Both suspects were brought before the investigating judge at the Federal Court of Justice for a review of the charges and a determination on pretrial detention. (ANI)
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