Former head of German intelligence arrested on espionage and treason charges

Former head of German intelligence (BND) August Hanning was arrested on Tuesday, October 6, on suspicion of espionage and treason.

This was reported by Bild and Der Spiegel.

A judge at Germany’s Federal Court in Karlsruhe ordered the 80-year-old Hanning into custody on Wednesday, October 7. Federal prosecutors charged him with acting as a secret agent, espionage for the purpose of treason, gathering state secrets, and attempted treason.

According to investigators, in 2010 Hanning arranged to pay his former chief of staff at the BND, Manfred Dankesreiter (64), for a steady stream of intelligence data. The information Hanning received was allegedly used to earn money as a security consultant. According to prosecutors, Dankesreiter passed on around 2,000 documents and served as chief of staff to several BND presidents until his retirement in March 2026.

According to Der Spiegel, some of the information was allegedly sold to Azerbaijan, though the authorities have not officially named any country. Sources in German security services told The Telegraph that some of the material came from foreign partner intelligence agencies. BND President Martin Jäger contacted MI6 and other partner services. Investigators first came across the material during a search in September 2025 carried out as part of a case against Hamburg businesswoman Christina Block.

Hanning’s lawyer Leon Kruse acknowledges that his client had confidential documents but denies that he passed on information to Germany’s detriment or for money.

“My client is being unjustly prosecuted,” Kruse said.

Hanning’s financial difficulties date back to 2019, when Latvian bank PNB Banka went bankrupt. Hanning had served on its supervisory board alongside former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. The insolvency administrator filed a claim against nine former officials, including Hanning, for a total of around EUR 32 million. According to Bild, Hanning’s share of that sum amounts to up to EUR 4 million.

Hanning’s pension of up to EUR 11,000 was seized — according to The Telegraph, two-thirds of that amount was garnished. Rasmussen, meanwhile, did not have to pay: Denmark does not enforce the claim until a final court ruling is issued, whereas in Hanning’s case enforcement has already taken place in Germany.

On February 6, 2022, Hanning sent then-Chancellor Olaf Scholz a four-page letter in which he asked him to raise the issue of the bank’s bankruptcy in a conversation with Latvian Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš at an upcoming meeting with Baltic leaders. In the letter, Hanning accused the Latvian authorities of knowing about or approving of illegal actions during the change of the bank’s shareholders and the withdrawal of more than EUR 30 million, and of obstructing efforts to find out what had happened. He asked that Kariņš “agree to an independent investigation.” Hanning later told Bild that the chancellery never helped him.