Has a custody dispute involving the multi-millionaire heiress of a steak chain brought down the former head of Germany’s foreign intelligence service (BND)?

Yesterday August Hanning, who ran the BND from1998 to 2005, was arrested after a search of his home found documents that prosecutors say suggest he had illegally acquired BND intelligence after leaving office and used it to further his private consultancy work.

It is alleged that in 2010, several years after leaving the BND, Hanning reached out to his former aide, named only as Manfred D. due to German privacy laws. Manfred had been his chief of staff and remained in that role for subsequent BND heads until March 2026.

In return for alleged payments from Hanning, Manfred is accused of passing over up to 2,000 documents, many of which were classified or intended purely for internal BND use. Some of the documents were prepared for the Chancellery, the highest level of the German government.

For all that Germans are said to be humorless, there is a certain dark comedy to the allegations

For all that Germans are said to be humorless, there is a certain dark comedy to the allegations

Other documents came from foreign partner services, raising fears that British or American intelligence, some of which could identify agents or intelligence officers,........

© The Spectator