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August Hanning, who led Germany’s foreign intelligence service from 1998 to 2005, is accused of obtaining thousands of confidential documents through a former employee. Investigators are also examining his contacts with a senior Chinese military figure and whether classified information was passed to foreign powers.
Former president of Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service (BND) August Hanning has been placed in pre-trial detention as prosecutors investigate allegations that he obtained classified government documents and may have passed sensitive information to foreign powers.
The 80-year-old former intelligence chief was arrested in Bavaria and brought before an investigating judge at Germany’s Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe. His former office manager, Manfred D., was also arrested and is being investigated as the alleged source of the documents.
The Federal Prosecutor’s Office accuses the two men of offences including treasonous spying and espionage involving state secrets.
At the centre of the case is the alleged transfer of around 2,000 documents from the BND to Hanning over a period of several years. Prosecutors say many of the papers were classified or intended only for internal government use, including material prepared for briefings involving senior officials at the Federal Chancellery.
Investigators believe Manfred D. continued to provide Hanning with confidential material after Hanning had left the BND. Prosecutors suspect the arrangement was agreed in 2010 and that Hanning paid for documents which he later intended to use in his private consultancy work.
The investigation is also examining whether information obtained from the BND was subsequently provided to foreign intelligence services or other foreign actors.
Former employee had permission to work for Hanning
The case has taken on an additional dimension because the BND had formally authorised Manfred D. to take a part-time job with Hanning after the latter left government service.
According to German media reports, the intelligence service had known for some time that its former office manager was working for Hanning.
Hanning headed the BND between 1998 and 2005 before leaving the civil service. He entered the private sector in 2009, where he continued to work as a consultant and maintained contacts in political, security and international business circles.
Investigators now suspect that his professional relationship with D. became a channel through which confidential BND material was obtained.
D. had been under surveillance for months before his arrest, according to German media reports. Investigators reportedly monitored his home in Geretsried, Bavaria, and tapped his communications. On the day of the arrests, a special police unit surrounded the property before taking him into custody and securing evidence.
His arrest warrant was also executed by an investigating judge at the Federal Court of Justice.
Investigators examine Hanning’s China contacts
The investigation is not limited to the documents allegedly obtained from the BND.
German magazine Der Spiegel has reported that Hanning maintained a relationship with retired Chinese Major General Wang Jianzheng, a figure regarded as an expert on Germany within China’s military and political establishment.
Wang worked at China’s representation in East Berlin between 1987 and 1990. Hanning and Wang were photographed together during a 2017 visit to the Chinese city of Huaibei, where they visited local companies.
The two men were also listed as participants at a Europe-China conference in 2023. Both have served on the advisory board of a German-Chinese eco-park project in Qingdao.
German investigators are examining whether Hanning provided Wang with sensitive information. The Federal Prosecutor’s Office has not commented on that specific investigation.
There is currently no public finding that Hanning passed BND secrets to Wang or to the Chinese government. The question forms part of the investigation rather than an established fact.
Parliamentary intelligence watchdog briefed
The arrest has also prompted scrutiny of Germany’s intelligence oversight system.
BND President Martin Jäger briefed members of the Bundestag’s Parliamentary Control Committee on the case during a confidential meeting. Jäger entered a secure room in parliament for the briefing, which was expected to last about an hour.
The committee had already called for tighter rules governing senior officials leaving security-sensitive positions.
In May 2023, it recommended stricter transparency requirements and longer waiting periods for former public servants who had held senior posts or possessed sensitive knowledge in areas involving national security. Those recommendations had not resulted in the proposed changes before Hanning’s arrest.
The case therefore places fresh attention on the safeguards surrounding former intelligence officials and their access to sensitive networks after leaving public service.
Investigation began through separate child-abduction case
The espionage investigation came to light through an entirely different criminal case involving the alleged abduction of the children of Hamburg entrepreneur Christina Block.
Hanning had previously attracted police attention over allegations linked to the 2022 removal of Block’s children. German prosecutors said in 2025 that Hanning and a retired Hamburg State Criminal Police Office official were suspected of having acted through a security company in connection with the operation.
Investigators searching Hanning’s property as part of that case discovered material which ultimately led authorities towards the alleged intelligence operation, according to the Federal Prosecutor’s Office.
That evidence then formed the basis for the current investigation into Hanning and D.
The allegations against both men remain subject to the German criminal justice process. Hanning has not been convicted of espionage or treason, and the investigation will have to establish whether the confidential documents were unlawfully obtained, how they were used and whether any classified information reached foreign powers.
