After the arrest of ex-BVT employee Egisto Ott, it is becoming increasingly clear how closely ex-Wirecard board member Jan Marsalek, who fled to Moscow, may be connected to the Russian domestic secret service. The focus is also on an apartment in Floridsdorf.
Marsalek’s Russian contacts now reveal conversations with a Bulgarian now imprisoned in Britain who allegedly headed a multi-member spy cell working for Russia.
The men of Bulgarian descent are accused by British law enforcement authorities of collecting secret and useful information for Russian secret services from August 2020 to February 2023 and of spying on people in Britain and other European countries.
Target practice with “Alfa boys”
Marsalek actively exchanged views with the alleged head of this group, who had already been prosecuted and moved to Great Britain in 2009 and is considered a proven specialist in eavesdropping techniques. Marsalek reported on a shooting exercise ‘with the Alfa boys’, a special unit of the Russian domestic secret service FSB. Marsalek and his interlocutor also discussed “active measures” against Russia-critical investigative journalist Christo Grozev.
It is now certain that Grozev was one of at least 309 people affected for whom Marsalek made illegal searches of police databases or obtained confidential information. Marsalek, who is said to have acquired a new identity after his successful escape to Moscow and has since carried out secret service work for Moscow, is said to have used two former employees of the domestic Office for the Protection of the Constitution. .
Journalist among those affected
Austrian journalist Max Zirngast was among the 309 people. Zirngast said in an interview on Tuesday that he had been partially informed that questions had already been asked about him before “Spiegel” reported it in early March. When he read the article in the German news magazine, he just smiled.
‘It doesn’t really matter to me. “Compared to what the Turkish secret services do, it is relatively boring,” said Zirngast, who was imprisoned in Turkey at the time the questions were asked. He would not comment on the content of the questions and what information was passed on because of the ongoing investigation.
Marsalek is said to have met the former head of the counterintelligence service of the now defunct Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the Combating of Terrorism (BVT), Martin Weiss, in 2015. The internationally well-connected ex-BVT employee Egisto Ott is said to have gained access to secret databases since 2017 and even obtained information for Marsalek and Russia through legal assistance from Italy and Great Britain.
Ex-BVT man now in Dubai
In conversations with the alleged agent operating in Britain, Marsalek referred to Martin Weiss as “our friend” whose “evacuation” to Dubai he had organized. Weiss, who has been living in the United Arab Emirates since last year, is said to have been Egisto Ott’s “contact person and client” regarding activities for Marsalek.
On Tuesday, the Vienna Regional Court contradicted a “Krone” report, according to which Ott made a “partial confession” after his arrest. During his interrogation on the occasion of the imposition of pre-trial detention, Ott rejected the intelligence activities assigned to him to the detriment of the Republic. “In this regard, he did not confess the core of the allegations to the newspaper judge,” confirmed court spokeswoman Christina Salzborn.
“There is no agreement”
The report in the Kronen Zeitung further said that Ott “may have been looking for a deal with the public prosecutor.” Public Prosecution Service spokeswoman Nina Bussek explained: “There is no deal.” When asked, Bussek did not want to provide further information about Ott and especially about possible steps against Martin Weiss, citing the ongoing investigation. .
The Federal Criminal Police also kept a low profile and blocked questions. Ott’s previous attorney, who represented him until Easter, has likely terminated the attorney-client relationship. “We no longer represent you in this case,” the law firm said on Tuesday, which could not be reached personally by telephone for the time being.
MP mobile phones have landed in Moscow
Together with the head of the British spy cell in the service of Russia, Marsalek is said to have organized the purchase of three company mobile phones from then-high-ranking cabinet officials at the Ministry of the Interior, whose devices fell into the water during an attack. boat trip 2017. The data had to be saved, but that failed.
The mobile phones then ended up with Egisto Ott via a police officer, who made them available to a relative’s apartment in Vienna-Floridsdorf. They were arrested there on June 10, 2022 by men on behalf of Marsalek and were reportedly taken to Moscow for evaluation. Russia had invaded Ukraine almost four months earlier.
Sensitive data on laptops
According to the investigation file, the mobile phones contained sensitive official and private data of top officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which were subject to official secrecy. Several SINA laptops would probably also be of great importance to Russia, although it is not yet clear how they came into Ott’s possession.
They are said to contain highly sensitive, confidential data from an EU state. SINA stands for Secure Inter-Network Architecture, which enables the transfer and processing of sensitive information in insecure networks.
Developed since 2000, the SINA product family includes the only IP-based cryptosystems approved by the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) up to the highest national classification level (“Top Secret”). The emphasis is on protecting electronic information from unauthorized access.
20,000 euros for a laptop
Russian agents equipped with fake passports are said to have retrieved one of these laptops from Ott’s relative’s apartment on November 19, 2022, and brought it to Russia via Istanbul, directly to the FSB headquarters in Moscow. 20,000 euros were allegedly paid for this, and Marsalek had the money brought from Berlin to Vienna, according to the chats.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
