On 6 October 2026, officers of the Federal Criminal Police Office arrested August Hanning, the former president of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND), at his home in Nordwalde near Münster. At the same time, investigators detained his former office manager, Manfred D. The Federal Prosecutor’s Office in Karlsruhe confirmed the arrests and stated that the 80-year-old is under investigation on strong suspicion of treasonous espionage, probing state secrets, attempted treason, and intelligence agent activity. Manfred D. faces allegations of aiding and abetting. 

According to the Federal Prosecutor’s Office, Manfred D., who served as Hanning’s office manager and continued in that role under Hanning’s successors until March 2026, allegedly supplied his former boss with nearly 2,000 documents in exchange for payment until June 2022. These included numerous classified materials intended solely for the BND leadership’s internal situation briefings. Hanning is said to have used the material for his private consulting work after leaving public service.In at least one case, the authority said, he prepared a written analysis from the information that was intended for an “employee of a foreign intelligence security apparatus.” Whether the document actually reached its recipient remains unclear. 

In addition, Hanning is alleged to have supplied political information over several years to a member of another foreign intelligence service. The investigation stems from evidence found during a search in September 2025 linked to a separate case. The Federal Prosecutor’s Office did not name the country involved. On the evening of 6 October 2026, Der Spiegel reported, citing its own research, that investigators were examining contacts between Hanning and an employee of the Azerbaijani intelligence service. The analysis based on documents classified as secret was said to have been intended for that person. Other media outlets, including Welt, n-tv, and Bild, picked up the report. Whether the materials were actually transmitted remains, according to consistent accounts, the subject of the ongoing investigation. 

Publicly documented, by contrast, are older links between Hanning and Azerbaijan. He is a board member of the German-Azerbaijani Forum, a Berlin lobbying organization considered close to the regime in Baku. A press release from the forum dated 4 August 2025 still lists the former BND chief as a board member. The forum repeatedly came under criticism in connection with the so-called Azerbaijan affair; Lobbycontrol described the network as dubious in 2021. 

The Media and Broadcasting Council of the Republic of Azerbaijan rejected the reports on 7 October 2026. Linking the case to Azerbaijan amounted to disinformation and was part of a smear campaign, the body said. The allegations were not based on official sources and were aimed at damaging German-Azerbaijani relations.

Hanning headed the BND from 1998 to 2005 and subsequently served as state secretary in the Federal Ministry of the Interior. After leaving public office, he worked as a consultant. His lawyer initially did not comment on the allegations. The federal government referred to the ongoing investigation and declined to comment on the case. A judicial clarification is still pending; until a conviction, the presumption of innocence applies.