German billionaire Karl-Erivan Haub.
Credit: X/@PoliticsWWWeb
In April 2018, Karl-Erivan Haub, a German billionaire and former managing director of Tengelmann Group, disappeared mysteriously while hiking near Switzerland’s Matterhorn peak. Despite extensive search efforts over six days, Haub was never found and was declared dead three years later, Daily Mail reported.
However, new information has come to light from a major investigation by German broadcaster RTL which suggests that Haub is alive and is currently living with his Russian mistress, Veronika Ermilova, in Moscow.
The Cologne public prosecutor’s office has initiated an inquiry against Haub’s brother, Christian Haub, who now heads the Tengelmann Group. It has been alleged that Christian Haub provided false testimony under oath. This probe was prompted by a criminal complaint filed against Christian, accusing him of misinforming the Cologne district court in May 2021, the publication reported.
German billionaire Karl-Erivan Haub on the night of his disappearance.
Credit: X/@PoliticsWWWeb
The complaint raises a possibility that Christian possesses credible information regarding his Haub's whereabouts and survival. However, senior public prosecutor Ulrich Bremer clarified that the evidence currently available does not justify challenging the official declaration of Haub’s death. Christian’s legal representative, Mark Binz, refuted these accusations, denouncing them as false.
Reports suggest that Haub had been in contact with Ermilova shortly before his disappearance in 2018 and made over 13 calls to her in three days, some of which lasted over an hour. This raised speculation that Haub may have been planning about faking his own death, with the help of Ermilova and individuals in Moscow.
Reacting to the speculation, Ermilova clarified her relationship with Haub, saying that they had a business relationship with Haub and has not been in contact with him since the reported incident.
"I only had a working relationship with him. I don’t live with a German billionaire in Moscow, this is fake. There is no billionaire in my circle, I am married, and I have a child. The company owned by this person, they were our clients. We learned in 2018 that he disappeared in the mountains and someone in Germany is trying to say that he was found in Moscow. This has not been confirmed at all. He was officially declared dead in Germany", she told the Daily Mail.
The investigation conducted by RTL has also shed light on Ermilova’s connections with Russia’s FSB security service.