DThe German TV journalist and author Hubert Seipel has received sponsorship money of over 600,000 euros for book projects from a Russian oligarch and confidant of Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin. This is what researchers from the “Cyprus Confidential” project report, in which 270 journalists from 69 media companies evaluated leaked data from Cyprus. The research group includes journalists from ZDF and “Spiegel”, which report on the case. You have the contract that Seipel concluded. It is said that he confirmed the contract. He does not see this affecting his journalistic independence.
Seipel concluded the contract, known as the “Deed of Sponsorship”, in March 2018. The contractual partner is a Caribbean shell company called “De Vere Worldwide Corporation”. Behind this is the Russian oligarch and Putin confidant Alexei Mordashov, who is on the EU and US sanctions list.
According to the researchers, Seipel was supposed to write “a book about the political landscape in the Russian Federation.” He did that too. The book was published in 2021 under the title: “Putin’s Power. Why Europe needs Russia”. According to the researchers, the Hamburg publisher Hoffmann and Campe, which published the book, knew nothing about Seipel’s secret sponsorship deal. A handwritten note indicates that Seipel had already signed such a contract in 2013 for his first book about Putin. Seipel doesn’t deny that either. In a detailed statement, he explained that the oligarch Alexei Mordashov supported his “book projects,” but that this did not affect his impartiality. He made “no commitment” to the sponsor regarding “the content and composition of the book.” The oligarch Mordashov and the Kremlin ruler Putin (unsurprisingly) did not answer journalists’ questions.
Seipel has played a key role in shaping the image of Russia and Vladimir Putin in recent years and has cast Putin’s rule in a positive light. From the mid-1990s until recently he filmed for ARD and ZDF, and around thirty documentaries have been recorded on the public broadcasters. In 2012, ARD showed his documentary “I, Putin”. The producing NDR explained to the researchers that they knew nothing about a sponsorship contract and wanted to clarify the matter. The publishing house Hoffmann and Campe also wants to investigate the matter, including with a view to legal action.
Seipel had to inform the station about any possible conflict of interests, such as payment, according to NDR. If an author were to “pay to influence” one would find oneself and the audience “deceived”. In an interview with Südwestrundfunk, Seipel, whose pro-Putin works have been noticed by some in recent years, vehemently denied having received money from Russia.
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