August Hanning’s former chief of employees was additionally arrested on suspicion of ‘aiding and abetting tried treason’.
Revealed On 6 Oct 2026
Germany’s former overseas spy chief has been arrested on suspicion of espionage and treason, prosecutors have mentioned.
August Hanning, 80, is underneath investigation for tried treason and performing as an agent for a overseas intelligence service, the Workplace of the Federal Public Prosecutor Normal confirmed on Tuesday.
Hanning was president of Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service between 1998 and 2005.
He was arrested in Dangerous Toelz-Wolfratshausen in southern Germany. His former chief of employees, partially recognized as Manfred D, was arrested in Steinfurt in western Germany on suspicion of “aiding and abetting tried treason and treasonous espionage”.
The prosecutor’s workplace mentioned, “On one event, Hanning used categorised intelligence supplied by Manfred D to draft an evaluation for an officer of a overseas intelligence service.”
Prosecutors mentioned Manfred D additionally served because the chief of employees for Hanning’s successors between 2012 and 2026, and used his function to achieve entry to confidential data which he then handed on to Hanning “in change for remuneration”. Hanning then used the knowledge in his non-public consulting work, prosecutors added.
“The present findings recommend that, over time, Manfred D supplied Hanning with roughly 2,000 paperwork, lots of which contained categorised data for use completely by the federal intelligence service for inside functions, notably for government intelligence briefings,” the assertion mentioned.
The assertion didn’t reveal who the 2 males had been suspected of spying for or which nation the overseas agent labored for, including that “it has but to be decided if the fabric reached the meant recipient”.
German MP Marc Henrichmann instructed the AFP information company that Germany “won’t tolerate the betrayal of secrets and techniques”.
Henrichmann, who chairs the German parliament’s intelligence oversight committee, mentioned, “Whoever allies themselves with the enemies of our liberal democracy shall be came upon.”
The premises of Manfred D and Hanning had been being searched in a number of areas, together with within the capital, Berlin.
