The Egisto Ott case has caused a great deal of international commotion in recent months: the two employees of the Ministry of the Interior, Egisto Ott and Martin Weiss, are accused of spying for Russia and passing on state secrets. However, they do not have to give up their salaries – financed with taxpayers’ money.
Egisto Ott is said to have handed over three company mobile phones and a work laptop to Russia’s domestic intelligence service, but the ex-BVT chief inspector remained in custody until recently. His former superior and former head of counterintelligence, Martin Weiss, faces similar charges and may even have fled to Dubai for this reason.
Non-terminationable civil servants
It is all the more surprising that the two suspects are still on the payroll of the Ministry of the Interior. Although both have been suspended, this suspension will only end with a final decision in a disciplinary procedure. And this in turn can only be completed when the ongoing criminal proceedings have ended. Because they are both pragmatic civil servants who cannot be dismissed.
“Since the employees’ procedures regarding their criminal offenses have not yet been completed, they are entitled to the monthly salary – albeit reduced – taking into account the standards of the service law,” the Ministry of the Interior said.
“Bound by the law”
Ott and Weiss will continue to receive two-thirds of their salaries – this is what the Civil Servants Act of 1979 states. “The Ministry of the Interior is not happy about it either – but we are bound by the law,” an insider reveals. Only after a court ruling of more than a year’s suspended sentence or six months’ unconditional imprisonment will the loss of office take place and the monthly income from Austrian tax money for the alleged Russian spies end.
If such prison sentences are not imposed, the disciplinary procedure will continue. “Taking into account the current legal situation, there is no room for the Federal Ministry of the Interior to take other measures,” said department spokesman Harald Noschiel.
Egisto Ott is presumed innocent. He himself denies all allegations. “It is an absurd construction, the evidence is more than thin. He is being made a scapegoat here,” Ott’s lawyer Jürgen Stephan Mertens recently told the media.
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.
