Munich prosecutors examine consultancy commissions in KNDS's 2013 Qatar tank deal

The record

According to a company spokesperson speaking on 3 September, Munich prosecutors contacted KNDS Deutschland to request information as part of a preliminary examination of the 2013 Qatar deal (Reuters). The suspicion concerns whether commissions worth millions of euros paid to a consultancy in Qatar may have been bribes (APA).

A preliminary examination (Vorermittlungsverfahren) is the stage at which German prosecutors assess whether there are sufficient grounds to open a formal criminal investigation; it does not constitute a charge. KNDS said it was cooperating fully with the authorities. The prosecutor's office did not respond to Reuters' request for comment.

A €1.89 billion order

Qatar's armed forces signed the contracts with Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) in 2013. They covered 62 Leopard 2 main battle tanks and 24 PzH 2000 self-propelled howitzers, alongside other defence equipment, related services, training and simulation systems (hartpunkt). The reported order value was €1.89 billion (Reuters).

KMW merged with France's Nexter in 2015 to form KNDS (Reuters). KMW now operates as KNDS Deutschland (Reuters).

KNDS's own review

On 29 April 2026, KNDS announced that its board had launched an independent review of the transaction following renewed allegations about the deal (hartpunkt). Der Spiegel first reported the review. The magazine said it focused on commissions worth millions of euros allegedly paid to a consultancy controlled by a Qatari general (Reuters).

External lawyers and advisers are conducting the review, which also reassesses the findings of earlier examinations of the deal (hartpunkt). Der Spiegel reported that the law firm Freshfields had been appointed to examine the Qatar transactions (Reuters).

In April, the company said: "According to the current findings of the ongoing review, which is well advanced but not yet complete, there is no evidence that would justify concluding that any KNDS employee involved in the transaction, whether former or current, engaged in criminal conduct" (UK Defence Journal). On 3 September, the company said the review was well advanced but still incomplete, and that it had found no indication of criminal conduct by its employees (Reuters).

Contract value, not a payment

The €1.89 billion is the reported value of the entire order: tanks, howitzers, other equipment, services and training. It is neither the amount of a commission nor a total for alleged bribes. Reports describe the commissions under examination only as "millions of euros"; neither KNDS nor the prosecutor's office has publicly disclosed a figure.

Based on reporting from: Reuters / onvista · 3 September 2026; APA / trend · 3 September 2026; hartpunkt · 29 April 2026; Reuters / Global Banking & Finance Review; UK Defence Journal.