What happened on that cold spring morning, on April 7, 2018, at the foot of the Matterhorn? Where did the billionaire CEO of the Tengelmann Group disappear to shortly after a surveillance camera at the Klein Matterhorn mountain station recorded him for the last time at 9:09 a.m.?
First, a large contingent of mountain rescuers and private security guards searched for the experienced alpinist in the crevasses throughout the ski area. But just seven days after his disappearance, a completely different conclusion was reached internally: a mountain accident was only five percent likely; instead, there was a 90 percent probability that Karl-Erivan Haub, known as Charlie, had “disappeared” intentionally. The probability of a criminal background is four percent and suicide is one percent. This is what it says in the internal files of Tengelmann Corporate Security, which are the first medium to be available to a research team from RTL, ntv and stern on a large scale.
Just a few months later, in June 2018, private investigators were already looking for the missing man in Russia, shadowing suspected contacts on site, including a young woman, Veronika E. She would later be assigned to the Russian secret service environment. This is also stated in the internal Tengelmann investigation reports, which are classified as secret. Some time after the disappearance, the American secret services FBI and CIA began investigating Zermatt and questioned the internal Tengelmann investigators about their level of knowledge. Internal Tengelmann investigators conclude that Haub, who also has American citizenship, was apparently targeted by the American authorities because of his connections to Russia. That is also in the files.
But the German authorities seem to be of little interest in the mysterious disappearance. The question is whether Christian Haub, Karl-Erivan’s youngest brother and current company boss, had knowledge of the traces to Russia and, in particular, whether he was familiar with the pictures that presumably show his brother.
In an RTL broadcast, a witness speaks for the first time and says: “The authorities knew about it, but there was no approach to further investigate.” The man who speaks anonymously in front of the camera has worked closely with Karl-Erivan Haub for years. Tengelmann’s internal investigations had already been carried out before 2010 because a person from the Russian mafia’s environment was said to have appeared with a general power of attorney from the middle Haub brother, Georg. Former JP Morgan banker Francisco Guadamillas Cortes is said to have connections not only to the St. Petersburg mafia and Vladimir Putin, but also to Colombian drug cartels.
At this point, the witness’s descriptions correspond to the internal Tengelmann files, which are available to RTL, ntv and stern. At that time, according to the witness, the German authorities were also contacted to assess the threat situation, namely the BKA and the BND. The authorities saw the threat situation, but apparently nothing was done. But “these investigations should have been started at the latest after Karl-Erivan’s disappearance,” the witness told RTL. But, Karl-Erivan Haub’s confidant continued, the Russian business was purely a matter for the boss anyway. From the Russian business partners “Nothing” was known and “nothing was researched or investigated.” From today’s perspective, given everything that is now known, he cannot explain this. “In my opinion, this entire process should obviously be completed. Both in the economic sense and in the political sense, so as not to have to continue any investigations. That’s the only explanation I have.” We can’t verify whether this explanation can be correct. But what could be being hidden here? Where does the trail lead?
“In order not to present certain events transparently to the public. You don’t necessarily always want that. Economic and political interests come together when it comes to German-Russian relations. When it comes to economic interests, when it comes to the general political situation. Maybe you want to you can’t do that.”
You can see the entire interview with the witness on Tuesday evening at 10:35 p.m. on RTL Extra and from Wednesday for seven days on RTL. The 90-minute documentary “Tengelmann The Mysterious Disappearance of the Billionaire” is also available there.
Transparency note: The star belongs to RTL Deutschland.
