BERLIN 

Germany’s main opposition party has demanded the resignation of the head of German intelligence service BND amid reports the BND helped the NSA to spy on European politicians and companies for years.

Bernd Riexinger, the co-chairman of the main opposition The Left Party, said on Friday the recent scandal showed the lack of democratic control over BND and its controversial activities after it acted as “a henchman” of the U.S. secret services, including the National Security Agency, or NSA.

Riexinger told German daily Mitteldeutsche Zeitung: "Apparently BND served for many years as a branch office of the U.S. secret services."

“BND’s director Gerhard Schindler should assume full responsibility and resign."

German weekly Der Spiegel’s internet site reported on Thursday that the BND had helped NSA since 2002 to monitor the telephone and internet communications of various European politicians and companies, despite national laws banning such practices.

An internal investigation has revealed the BND had not dismissed information requests, including those for IP addresses and telephone numbers, of many European companies and politicians.

The weekly reported that the German government had informed the Parliamentary Control Panel (PKGr) which oversees the activities of Germany’s intelligence services about the scandal, and confirmed more than 40,000 such instances.

Left Party lawmaker Andre Hahn, a member of the PKGr, has demanded a comprehensive investigation on the claims.

He told regional public radio Bayerischer Rundfunk: "At the moment, it is still not clear which personnel were involved in this scandal - who had the responsibility. But this should have consequences for the responsible personnel."

He criticized Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition government for not informing Parliament about the scandal, despite an internal investigation having been launched in 2013.

German government spokesman Steffen Seibert told media in a written statement late on Thursday that the Chancellery had already instructed the BND to conduct a comprehensive investigation “to clarify the facts of the situation” which were mentioned in recent press reports.

Seibert confirmed that “some technical and organizational failures were identified at the BND” but he did not elaborate.

He underlined that German government would continue to inform Parliament’s relevant committees about any new findings.