exclusive
In Germany he invests in real estate, and he was sanctioned by the USA – the Afghan ex-politician and businessman Rahmani. He is said to have benefited from massive corruption in his home country SWR-Show research.
From the air they look like three giant stars – the buildings of the German IBM headquarters in Ehningen near Böblingen, lots of glass and steel, space for 2,000 people. The buildings have been empty since April. The IT group’s employees had to vacate their offices. “We have left the rented buildings in Ehningen and accommodated our IBM employees at the IBM location in Böblingen,” writes IBM.
No word about the fact that in December the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on the landlord of the IBM property: Ajmal Rahmani, a former MP and businessman from Afghanistan. The accusation against his father and him: transnational corruption. The sanctions could also affect companies that do business with “the Rahmanis” or their companies – as a precaution, IBM has apparently vacated its German headquarters, which it had rented from the Afghan investor.
A kind of shopping list
After SWRAccording to research, Ajmal Rahmani, in his early 40s, apparently bought the former IBM property for 50 million euros without a bank loan. The sale was carried out in 2021 via a notary’s office in Munich and the Stadtsparkasse there. The gigantic IBM site is just one item on an internal list entitled “Startup investments” that… SWR is present. It seems to be some kind of “shopping list”.
In addition to the IBM building complex, 27 other properties in Europe and Dubai are mentioned there. The total purchase price exceeds 350 million euros. According to the list, seven of the property purchases were said to have been carried out via the Stadtsparkasse München, and these alone are worth over 205 million euros. The properties are located in Munich, Frankfurt am Main, Herrenberg and Ehningen.
“Funded from equity”
The buyers on the list are Ocean Horizon Projektentwicklungs GmbH & Co. KG, Ocean Immobilien Projektentwicklung GmbH & Co. KG, RG Real Estate Development GmbH & Co. KG, Pyramaxia Real Estate Development GmbH & Co KG, RG Real Estate GmbH & Co . KG and RG Immoprojekt & Co. KG. These are companies that are also on the US government’s sanctions list and which it attributes to Ajmal Rahmani.
A total of 23 German, eight Cypriot companies, six in Dubai, two in Afghanistan, two in Austria, one in the Netherlands and one in Bulgaria are affected by the US sanctions.
He described what Ajmal Rahmani planned to do with the IBM site in the SWR-Interview 2023 like this: “This project is fantastic.” It brings people and companies together. That is the future: IBM’s tech campus – “and we are building the city with residential and commercial buildings.”
The press spokesman for Rahmani’s Ocean Group, Klaus Fockenberg, added: “The Ocean Group is economically very strong. This means that, if in doubt, we will always manage without banks; this is practically financed as if we were using equity capital and that is why we don’t have any at all Care for.”
Germany as a money laundering paradise
Rahmani appears to have used the savings bank not to finance his purchases, but rather to process his purchases worth millions. Banks are obliged to report suspected cases of money laundering to the Financial Intelligence Unit in Cologne. According to the spokesman for the tax justice network Christoph Trautvetter, according to the current legal situation, she is still allowed to do the business. By reporting suspicions she has fulfilled her duty. Germany is internationally considered a money laundering paradise, says the anti-money laundering expert.
The Stadtsparkasse München refers to banking secrecy and writes upon request: “Every customer rightly trusts that his or her data will be treated confidentially. Compliance with the provisions of the Money Laundering Act as well as any reporting obligations that arise are monitored by auditors and representatives of the Banking supervision is regularly checked.”
When the US imposed sanctions on former Afghan politician and businessman Rahmani and his father in December 2023, US Undersecretary of State Brian E. Nelson said it would “hold accountable those who use their privileged positions for personal gain.” The Rahmanis vehemently deny all allegations and say that the assets they manage were acquired legally and did not come from dubious sources.
Careers in the slipstream of NATO?
Ajmal Rahmani became a multimillionaire through procurement contracts as part of the international military intervention in Afghanistan. In 2014, Ajmal Rahmani was one of the richest oligarchs in Afghanistan, writes Afghanistan expert Timor Sharan in his book “Inside Afghanistan.” As a virtual monopolist, he supplied NATO with fuel through many of his dubious and opaque companies.
Sharan, director of the Afghanistan Policy Lab think tank at Princeton University, describes the Rahmanis’ rise to politics in the book. Ajmal Rahmani initially worked as a translator for the US military at the Bagram air base in northern Afghanistan and then became a “contractor”. The wealth acquired in this way paved the way for the Rahmanis to enter the lower house of the Afghan parliament. In return for votes there were gifts and money.
According to the US Treasury Department, Ajmal Rahmani paid $1.6 million to be elected to the Afghan parliament. A seat in the Afghan parliament enabled business people to expand their network, strengthen their social position and gain access to tenders, writes Afghanistan expert Sharan.
“Golden Passports”
The US Treasury Department accuses the Rahmanis of artificially inflating fuel prices, eliminating competitors, failing to meet delivery volumes and possibly evading millions in taxes. In 2019, for example, one of Rahmani’s companies imported 2,500 tons of aviation fuel tax-free, even though the delivery contract had already been terminated.
With the Taliban coming to power in 2021, Rahmani left Afghanistan on a chartered plane shortly before scores of desperate Afghans stormed Kabul airport. Father and son Rahmani had already made international headlines the year before: through the Cyprus Papers. They revealed that the Rahmanis had acquired so-called “golden passports” in Cyprus. This made them EU citizens. Ajmal Rahmani began buying real estate, for example in Ehningen.
Federal Criminal Police Office determined
Ajmal Rahmani vehemently denies the US Treasury Department’s corruption allegations against his father and him. He also took legal action against it. A spokesman for Rahmani’s Ocean Group is already seeing initial success: the court rejected the Finance Ministry’s request to dismiss Rahmani’s lawsuit. However, the court did not accept the Rahmanis’ urgent application against the imposition of sanctions. The proceedings before the US District Court in Washington are expected to bring clarity over the course of June.
In Germany, the Federal Criminal Police Office has begun investigations into Rahmani’s business. It is currently unclear what will happen to the vacant IBM property in Ehningen. However, a spokesman for the Ocean Group assures that the company is determined to see the project through to its completion.
After SWRAccording to research, Ajmal Rahmani is said to have worked as a “contractor” in Afghanistan not only for the US Army, but also for the Bundeswehr as part of the ISAF mandate in Mazar-e Sharif. The Bundeswehr can neither confirm nor deny this upon request.