Allegations against Hubert Seipel: NDR is examining legal steps

2023-11-14 20:20:19

Hamburg (ots) – On November 6th, the NDR was confronted with serious allegations against the author Hubert Seipel through a press inquiry. Seipel, who produced “I, Putin – A Portrait” (2012) and the interviews with Edward Snowden and Vladimir Putin in Moscow (2014) for NDR, is said to have received money from Russian entrepreneur Alexey Mordashov over a long period of time.

Due to the press inquiry, NDR contacted the author and those responsible at the production company. Seipel admitted to NDR that he had received money from Alexey Mordashov through two “sponsorship contracts” in 2013 and 2018 and explained that it was for two book projects. Mordashov has been on the EU sanctions list since March 2022 as a result of the Russian attack on Ukraine and is considered an oligarch loyal to the Kremlin. Seipel did not disclose the conclusion of the contracts to NDR at the time. The broadcaster sees this as a significant conflict of interest, which casts doubt on Seipel’s journalistic independence. Seipel would have had to disclose the conclusion to the production company and NDR. The author last worked for NDR in 2019.

Joachim Knuth, director: “There is a suspicion that we and therefore also our audience have been deliberately deceived. We are now investigating this and are examining legal steps. The processes surrounding the commissioning and implementation of the films that Hubert Seipel made for NDR We will check it thoroughly. We were able to win over the former Spiegel editor-in-chief Steffen Klusmann for this purpose.”

The NDR requires in production contracts and compliance rules that possible conflicts of interest are disclosed and that journalistic work is carried out free from the influence of third parties. None of Hubert Seipel’s films are currently in the ARD media library.