Ex-BVT man in custody

Marsalek’s secret deals in a Viennese apartment

Following the arrest of ex-BVT employee Egisto Ott, it is becoming increasingly clear how closely intertwined ex-Wirecard board member Jan Marsalek, who fled to Moscow, is likely to be with the Russian domestic intelligence service. A Floridsdorf apartment is also in the spotlight.

Marsalek's contacts with Russia have now been revealed in chats with a Bulgarian who is now in custody in the UK and is said to have led a multi-man espionage cell working for Russia.

The men of Bulgarian origin are accused by the British law enforcement authorities of collecting both secret and useful information for Russian intelligence services from August 2020 to February 2023 and of spying on people in the UK and other European countries.

Shooting exercise with "Alfa boys"
Marsalek had a lively exchange with the alleged head of this group, who has already been indicted, who moved to the UK in 2009 and is considered a proven specialist in eavesdropping techniques. For example, Marsalek reported on a shooting exercise "with the Alfa guys", a special unit of the Russian domestic intelligence service FSB. Marsalek and his interlocutor also talked about "active measures" against the Russia-critical investigative journalist Christo Grozev.

It is now considered certain that Grozev was one of at least 309 people affected by Marsalek's illegal searches of police databases or obtaining confidential information subject to secrecy. Marsalek, who is said to have been given new identities after his successful escape to Moscow and is believed to have carried out secret service activities for Moscow since then, is said to have used two former employees of the domestic secret service for this purpose.

Journalist among those affected
The Austrian journalist Max Zirngast was among the 309 people affected. Zirngast said in an interview on Tuesday that he had been informed in part that he had been the subject of inquiries even before "Der Spiegel" had reported on it at the beginning of March. When he read the article in the German news magazine, he just smiled.

"I don't really care. Compared to what Turkish secret services do, it's relatively bland," said Zirngast, who was imprisoned in Turkey at the time the interceptions were made. He did not want to comment on the content of the searches and what information was passed on due to the ongoing investigation.

Marsalek is said to have met Martin Weiss, the former head of counterintelligence at the now disbanded Federal Office for State Protection and Counterterrorism (BVT), back in 2015. Ex-BVT employee Egisto Ott, who has excellent international connections, is said to have accessed secret databases since 2017 and even obtained information for Marsalek and Russia from Italy and the UK through mutual legal assistance.

Ex-BVT man now in Dubai
In chats with the alleged agent operating in the UK, Marsalek called Martin Weiss "our friend", whose "evacuation" to Dubai he had organized. Weiss, who is believed to have been in the United Arab Emirates since the previous year, is said to have been Egisto Ott's "contact person and client" in relation to activities for Marsalek.

The Vienna Regional Court contradicted a "Krone" report on Tuesday, according to which Ott made a "partial confession" after his arrest. During his interrogation on the occasion of his pre-trial detention, Ott denied the allegations of intelligence activities to the detriment of the Republic. "In this respect, he did not confess to the core of the allegations before the journal judge," confirmed court spokeswoman Christina Salzborn.

"There is no deal"
According to "Krone" information, Ott is "possibly seeking a deal with the public prosecutor's office". The spokesperson for the public prosecutor's office, Nina Bussek, does not want to know anything about this. When asked, Bussek did not want to provide any further information about Ott or, in particular, any steps against Martin Weiss, citing the ongoing investigations.

Former secret service agent Egoist Ott is in custody on suspicion of espionage.

(Bild: Patrick Huber, romanevgenev, Krone KREATIV)

The Federal Criminal Police Office also kept a very low profile and blocked questions. Ott's previous defense lawyer, who had represented him until Easter, is likely to have terminated the client relationship. "We are no longer representing him in this matter," said the lawyer's office on Tuesday, who could not be reached by phone for the time being.

MPs' cell phones ended up in Moscow
Marsalek, together with the head of the British spy cell in Russia's service, is said to have organized the procurement of three official cell phones from senior former cabinet members of the Ministry of the Interior, whose devices had fallen into the water during a boat trip in 2017. The aim was to recover the data, which failed.

The cell phones subsequently ended up with Egisto Ott via a police officer, who placed them in a relative's apartment in Vienna-Floridsdorf. They were collected there on June 10, 2022 by men on behalf of Marsalek and are said to have been taken to Moscow for analysis. Russia had invaded Ukraine just under four months earlier.

Sensitive data on laptops
According to the investigation file, the cell phones contained sensitive official and private data of the top officials of the Ministry of the Interior, which is subject to official secrecy. Several SINA laptops are also likely to have been of considerable interest to Russia, although it is not yet clear how they came into Ott's possession.

They are said to have contained highly sensitive data of an EU state that is subject to secrecy. SINA stands for Secure Inter-Network Architecture, which enables the transmission and processing of sensitive information in insecure networks.

The SINA product family, developed since 2000, contains the only IP-based crypto systems approved by the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) up to the highest national classification level ("Top Secret"). The focus here is on protecting electronic information from unauthorized access.

20,000 euros for a laptop
One of these laptops is said to have been picked up by Russian agents equipped with false passports from the apartment of Ott's relative on November 19, 2022 and brought to Russia via Istanbul, directly to the FSB headquarters in Moscow. It is alleged that 20,000 euros were paid for this, with Marsalek having the money transported from Berlin to Vienna, as revealed in the chats.