BVT espionage affair

Ott’s client left for Dubai

The BVT headquarters in Vienna

(Bild: APA/GEORG HOCHMUTH)

Although he was already being targeted by the judiciary, the "contact person and client" for ex-BVT chief inspector Egisto Ott left for Dubai. Ex-Wirecard board member Jan Marsalek is said to have helped Martin Weiss. Weiss had confessed to having commissioned Ott to check personal data.

These cases took place between the end of 2018 and 2020, but Weiss was released just two days after his arrest on 24 January 2021. He promised to be available for further questioning and to comply with subpoenas. However, he did not keep this promise.

Instead, he fled to Dubai - with the support of former Wirecard board member Jan Marsalek. The latter is now believed to be working for the Russian domestic intelligence service FSB. "I have just managed to evacuate my Austrian husband to Dubai. That was also quite an adventure. We were worried that they would arrest him again at the airport," Marsalek wrote to the head of a Russian spy cell on February 22, 2021.

Jan Marsalek is said to work for the Russian domestic intelligence service FSB.

(Bild: APA/AFP/Kirill Kudryavtsev, eumostwanted.eu, Krone KREATIV)

Espionage continued
Weiss then allegedly procured information for Marsalek from Dubai and gave Egisto Ott work assignments. He was safe in the United Arab Emirates insofar as there is no extradition treaty with the country and an international arrest warrant would only be symbolic.

Nevertheless, the Economic and Corruption Prosecutor's Office (WKStA) investigated him and other former BVT officials for abuse of office. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Counterterrorism (BVT) is alleged to have accommodated a general from Syrian state security in Austria for the Israeli foreign intelligence service Mossad and provided him with asylum - without him fulfilling the requirements for this. The general is also alleged to have been jointly responsible for the torture of opponents of the Syrian regime.

Did not face trial in Vienna
The "White Milk" operation was tried at the Vienna Regional Court from April 14, 2023. Weiss did not face the proceedings, citing post-operative complaints and poor mental health, although a medical examiner found insufficient evidence of this. The other officers were acquitted in the end. Weiss can no longer be contacted.