The federal prosecutor’s office announced on Tuesday that it had detained a retired political scientist, identified as Dr Klaus L., on charges of using his network to engage in secret service agent activity on behalf of China.
The man was detained on Monday, prosecutors said in a statement, weeks after an arrest warrant was issued by the Munich Higher Regional Court over charges he had allegedly operated as a secret service agent for the Chinese government.
The prosecutor’s office claimed that Dr Klaus L had used a think tank he had been running since 2001 to build up a reputation and network over the years. During a 2010 lecture tour in Shanghai, he was allegedly recruited by Chinese intelligence officers, whom he “regularly provided” with information “on certain current issues,” the prosecutors said.
His network of “high-ranking political contacts” allegedly allowed him to obtain certain information, which he handed over to intelligence officers in Beijing in exchange for payment.
German public broadcaster ARD reported that Klaus L had previously served as a spy for Germany’s intelligence agency, the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND). According to the report, he had told BND officers that China had tried to recruit him, but had not revealed his continued contact with Beijing.
The Hanns Seidel Foundation, where Dr Klaus L. reportedly worked, has said it had been cooperating with authorities since June 2020, declaring that “possible misconduct via intelligence activities is absolutely unacceptable to us.”
The BND has neither publicly commented on the case nor confirmed if Dr Klaus L. ever worked in some capacity for the organization.
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