The declaration of death of the former Tengelmann CEO Karl-Erivan Haub is not lifted. This was confirmed by the Cologne public prosecutor in an email to FashionUnited.
Haub disappeared in April 2018 after the amateur athlete did not return from a solo ski tour on the Matterhorn. After a fruitless search, the Cologne District Court declared Haub dead in May 2021.
Three months ago, however, the Cologne public prosecutor’s office received documents from RTL journalist Liv von Boetticher that were related to proceedings under the Act on Missing Persons. She summarized her research in the book “The Tengelmann files and the mysterious disappearance of the billionaire Karl-Erivan Haub: What role does the Russian secret service play and why German authorities are not investigating”, which was published in May of this year.
Documents do not justify overturning the declaration of death
The public prosecutor’s office checked whether the documents submitted gave reason to apply to the district court for the declaration of death to be annulled in accordance with the provisions of the Missing Persons Act, and came to a negative conclusion. The public prosecutor’s office therefore assumes neither a false declaration of death nor that the missing person survived the declaration.
“There were no concrete indications that could be verified that the missing person survived beyond the time of the declaration of death. The requirements for an application for annulment of the declaration of death according to paragraph 30 of the law on missing persons are therefore not met,” said the Cologne public prosecutor.
She confirmed that the information about the photos frequently mentioned in the media was also the subject of the examination, which should come from 2021 and show Haub. “However, since the recordings are neither available nor can they be obtained, the existence, authenticity and time of the recordings cannot be verified,” it concludes.
Before the billionaire disappeared, the family company was owned by Karl-Erivan Haub and his brothers Christian and Georg Haub. After a family dispute, Karl-Erivan Haub’s heirs agreed in April 2021 to sell their shares in Tengelmann KG, which also owns the textile discounter Kik and the DIY chain Obi, to Christian Haub, who is the managing partner.