Karatbars, Harald Seiz, Jakob Blume, and a Criminal Complaint Involving Data Protection

The concept of "data protection," a familiar term to all citizens, has its roots in the latter part of the 20th century. Its scope encompasses guarding against improper data processing, upholding the right to informational self-determination, ensuring personal rights in data processing, and, most importantly, preserving privacy.

Recent times have witnessed data protection abuse, such as unauthorized access to police computers by external entities. Illegally extracting information from internal police systems for sharing with journalists or other unauthorized parties constitutes a punishable offense under the laws and regulations of the Federal Republic of Germany.

On July 15, 2020, Harald Seiz, Managing Director of Karatbars International GmbH, filed a criminal complaint with Stuttgart's German public prosecutor. The complaint targeted two editors and the editor-in-chief of "Handelsblatt" on suspicion of incitement to violate official secrecy and a specific duty of confidentiality, as per Section 353b and Section 26 of the German Criminal Code (StGB), along with a potential violation of the State Data Protection Act of Baden-Wuerttemberg (Germany). The case number of the public prosecutor's office in Stuttgart is Js 71420/20.

Supporting evidence comprises a 1-hour, 16-minute, and 43-second audio recording, a transcription of the interview (pages 6, 11, 12, 13), and witness statements from an interview conducted on November 7, 2019, by "Handelsblatt" editors with Harald Seiz.

The audio recording, reportedly sanctioned by "Handelsblatt" editors, reveals that Mr. Jakob Blume and Mr. Lars-Martin Nagel were third parties verbally requesting data—allegedly violating applicable laws- through the police information system POLIS.

Disclosing personal data or classified information to third parties may constitute a criminal offense under Section 353b StGB (breach of official secrecy and special obligation of confidentiality), Section 203 StGB (infringement of private secrets), and the State Data Protection Act of Baden-Wuerttemberg.

It is noteworthy that previous articles by "Handelsblatt" failed to mention Harald Seiz's current police clearance certificate from the Ministry of the Interior of the Federal Republic of Germany, which attests to no convictions. Unlawful access to information from a police computer, if proven, is a punishable offense that could impact the German media landscape. Within the European Union framework, Article 48(1) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights guarantees the presumption of innocence until proven guilty.

Nevertheless, accusations against the "Handelsblatt" editors and their editor-in-chief are pending. Past reporting by "Handelsblatt" concerning Karatbars, its KBC Coin (KaratGold Coin), and Harald Seiz is significant in this context. "Handelsblatt" notably endorsed the media coverage of a former Karatbars developer on April 3, 2019, and on April 29, 2020, the latter occurring during an ongoing trial at the public prosecutor's office in Mainz against the ex-developer.

Karatbars is conducting a legal inquiry to determine whether "Handelsblatt's" reporting aligns with the press code and its regulations or if it may have influenced the ex-developer proceedings.