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06.10.2026.

12:30

Scandal of scandals: Treason scandal in Germany?

Former director of Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service (BND), August Hanning, has been arrested on suspicion of divulging state secrets, committing treason and spying for a foreign power, German newspaper Bild reported today.

Izvor: DW, Tanjug

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Scandal of scandals: Treason scandal in Germany?
Tanjug/Christoph Reichwein/dpa via AP

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At the same time, another former senior BND official was arrested in Bavaria. He is Manfred D., Hanning’s former chief of staff, who remained with the BND until spring 2026.

According to investigators, Manfred D. allegedly provided Hanning with highly confidential BND information in exchange for money, at least until 2022.

Investigators suspect that, based on this information, the former intelligence chief prepared a security assessment for a foreign intelligence service in at least one case. According to available information, the service in question was not Russian, Deutsche Welle reported.

In another case, Hanning allegedly used information from internal BND documents while communicating with a foreign agent.

Investigators believe that approximately 2,000 confidential documents were passed to the former BND chief. Among them were reportedly reports prepared for the so-called intelligence situation briefing at the Chancellery — regular meetings of the heads of Germany’s security services.

Documents on Iran and Russia

According to the findings of the investigation, DW further reports, the documents included highly sensitive material concerning Iran’s nuclear program and the Russian armed forces.

Security sources also said that some of the information had been obtained by German agencies from foreign intelligence partners.

The disclosure of such information is considered one of the most serious possible security incidents. Within the intelligence community, there are concerns that partner agencies could lose trust in the BND and restrict the exchange of important information.

Investigation began by chance

The investigation was launched during proceedings involving Hamburg entrepreneur Christina Block.

Block, heir to the German restaurant chain “Block House,” became the focus of an investigation after her two children, who lived with their father in Denmark, were taken to Germany on New Year’s Eve 2023/2024.

Danish and German authorities are investigating the circumstances of the incident and allegations that the children were taken from their father against their will.

As part of that investigation, German investigators also uncovered information pointing to a possible leak of confidential data from Germany’s BND intelligence service, which subsequently led to a separate investigation into suspected disclosure of state secrets.

At the time, according to Bild, an undercover investigator was also deployed at a company linked to Hanning, suggesting that the investigation into suspected treason may have begun as early as then.

Suspicious dealings

It is known that after leaving the BND, he worked as a security and business consultant around the world and had ties to Russia and China, including contacts with government institutions there, as well as indirect links to the Kremlin.

In recent years, Hanning also faced serious financial difficulties, and his pension was subject to compulsory collection as a result of a legal dispute over his work on the supervisory board of a bank in the Baltic region.

According to Bild, the bank collapsed after an oligarch financially drained it, and members of its supervisory board, including Hanning and former NATO Secretary General and Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, were held accountable.

It is not currently known whether the allegations concerning the sale of state secrets are connected to Hanning’s financial problems.

In September 2025, Hamburg prosecutors searched Hanning’s home in the Westerwald region, as well as his offices, as part of an investigation linked to the Block case.

Hanning previously worked at the Permanent Mission of the Federal Republic of Germany in East Berlin. From 1998 until November 2005, he headed Germany’s foreign intelligence service.

He later became Germany’s highest-ranking security official, serving as head of all security services under then-Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

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Germany BND

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