The Federal Prosecutor in Germany announced today, Tuesday, the arrest of the former president of the German intelligence agency, August Hanning, who held the position from 1998 to 2005, along with an employee in the intelligence office named Manfred D., over suspicions related to the leaking of classified documents and intelligence information.
The charges against Hanning include espionage and treason, spying on state secrets, and attempted high treason.
According to the arrest warrant, the two men agreed in 2010 that Manfred D. would leak classified intelligence information to Hanning in exchange for money.
It is believed that Manfred D. handed over approximately two thousand documents to Hanning over the past years, many of which were classified and intended for internal use by the German intelligence agency.
Some of this information was related to high-level intelligence briefings provided to senior officials in the German government and security agencies.
Hanning is also suspected of having maintained close contact for years with a representative of a foreign intelligence service, to whom he conveyed political information, some of which was based on materials he obtained from Manfred D.