Investigative files in the case of suspected spy Egisto Ott apparently show close cooperation between the captured former Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the former Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Johannes Peterlik. As is known, the two are accused of working to set up a kind of ‘shadow intelligence service’.
The then Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs asked the suspected spy for help in issuing a weapons passport. Ott then contacted a senior official at LVT Vienna who was looking for a ‘loophole’. According to the reasons for dismissal from the Vienna Public Prosecutor’s Office, this would have been possible without intervention. The investigation against Peterlik was also stopped in another case: he had asked Ott to ask the provider about a suppressed telephone number.
According to the Public Prosecution Service, the former BVT employee would no longer have been authorized to conduct such an investigation. After all, he had already been assigned to the security academy.
Investigations against Peterlik for betraying secrets to Ott in connection with freelance journalist Max Zirngast, who was imprisoned in Turkey at the time, were also dropped in August 2022. At the time of the crime, media coverage was already so extensive, the statement said, that “it cannot be proven that the suspect had any intention to disclose or use the residence permit.”
Marsalek and the Novichok formula
Peterlik became general secretary of then Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl (FPÖ) in 2017. After the Ibiza scandal, he was sent to Indonesia as ambassador, but was soon suspended. He is said to have passed on the secret formula of the nerve agent Novichok to the fugitive Wirecard board member Jan Marsalek.
The ÖVP recently made accusations that Peterlik and Ott had worked to set up a “shadow intelligence service” under Kneissl. According to the organizational chart, Ott would be in charge of ‘Department 4’, a coordination office. Peterlik should have been in charge. The FPÖ rejected the objections.
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.
