A former German spy has been arrested on charges that he conducted “intelligence agent activities” for China, the federal prosecutor’s office said Tuesday.
A man identified only as “Klaus L.” is alleged to have provided information to the Chinese secret service dating back to 2010, according to a release from the federal prosecutor’s office. The now-75-year-old man was an agent for the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) for 50 years, according to Politico EU.
He was a spy for Germany’s secret service — but was he also supplying China with information?
That’s what German authorities believe. The suspected double agent, named only as Klaus L, was arrested yesterday. https://t.co/WA70Fht9Ti
— POLITICOEurope (@POLITICOEurope) July 6, 2021
He was arrested Monday on charges that were filed in May of this year, the federal prosecutor’s office said. Publicly, the man worked as a political science researcher for the Hanns Siedel Foundation, a research institution closely tied to the Christian Social Union party in Germany, according to Politico. Since 2001, he’s also run a think tank.
The man was apparently turned when he traveled to Shanghai to give a lecture in 2010. There, he was approached by members of the Chinese intelligence community who won him over to their side. (RELATED: Chinese President Xi Promises ‘Broken Heads And Bloodshed’ If Bullied By Foreign Powers)
The suspect did not deny supplying information to China, but said he was up front with the BND about his activities when he first began. The federal prosecutor’s office alleges that he funneled information to the Chinese until November 2019, typically around the time of state visits and multinational conferences.