In the secret service crime thriller, the former intelligence chief settles accounts with his former agent Egisto Ott in the ‘Krone’ interview.
The “Krone” reached the former head of the highest state security authority (from 2008 to the end of 2020) on the phone. When asked about the current developments, the retired Tyrolean top official appeared “not surprised” shortly before his 67th birthday: “The recent accusations did not surprise me. I reported Mr. Ott in 2017 for intelligence activities to the detriment of the Republic of Austria and also suspended him.”
Nearly seven years later, the allegations at the time have now been confirmed by the transfer of three mobile phones and a laptop with encrypted messages – apparently through the mediation of Wirecard phantom Jan Marsalek – to Russian spies. The breakthrough in the investigation ultimately came thanks to Marsalek’s conversations with a Putin agent, which were intercepted by the British secret service. The Carinthian ex-chief inspector, who is in custody under strong suspicion of espionage due to the risk of committing crimes and covering up the crime, was once sent back to the “old” Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the Combating of Terrorism because a liaison officer or police attaché in Italy and Turkey.
Ott is also accused of being behind a revenge plot. He is considered the (co-)author of the anonymous 39-page pamphlet on the BVT, which led to a raid under Interior Minister Herbert Kickl in February 2018. The beginning of the end of BAT. Justice is now also investigating Ott’s good contacts in local politics, especially in the blue camp.
‘We have to be vigilant about who gets ministries’
In the book “Surprise Attack,” Dr. Peter Gridling was concerned with the abolition of state security. Even then, people were “extremely concerned” about the FPÖ’s connections to Putin’s Russia. They explored “how Russia could finance them and provide jobs.” In an interview with the renowned ‘Financial Times’, the former intelligence chief also warned: ‘We have to be very vigilant about who (editor’s note after the elections) gets which ministries. Wherever we have the FPÖ in government, we must look at their intentions and activities.”
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.
