AIn view of more and more new details becoming known in the Austrian espionage affair involving the former Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution Egisto Ott, the mutual accusations of blame are also becoming louder on the political stage. The Christian Democratic ÖVP accuses the right-wing FPÖ and its chairman Herbert Kickl of posing a security risk. In the period between 2017 and 2019, when Kickl was Interior Minister, the BVT office responsible for counterintelligence was significantly weakened. The Greens, who currently form the government with the ÖVP, made similar statements. The FPÖ, in turn, sees a diversionary tactic in view of the upcoming parliamentary elections in the fall. In surveys, the FPÖ has been leading the social democratic SPÖ and the ÖVP for months.
On Wednesday it became known that two so-called SINA laptops with sensitive German encryption technology were found in Ott's apartments. Chats that had previously become known suggested that Ott had transmitted another such computer to the Russian intelligence service FSB. The client is said to be the fugitive former Wirecard board member Jan Marsalek, who, according to reports, now runs a spy network in Western Europe from Moscow.
Investigators tracked down via chats
Ott is suspected of being part of this network. He was arrested at the end of March and the discoveries that have now become known were made during house searches of his apartments in Carinthia and Vienna. According to the Vienna regional court, where Ott is in custody, he has rejected the accusation of espionage.
The crucial information for Ott's arrest was passed on to the Austrian authorities from Great Britain. At the end of last year, a multi-member spy cell was uncovered in London, the head of which is said to have been an arrested Bulgarian businessman. But the network also extended to Germany, and not just because of Marsalek. The Austrian was a board member of the DAX company Wirecard and lived in Munich.
After his escape to Russia, he was in frequent contact via messenger services with the Bulgarian suspected of espionage, but also with Ott. The chats seized by British investigators have been transmitted to the Viennese authorities as far as they concern Austria. They are now part of files such as the search warrant, which are quoted in the Austrian media.
Laptop hidden in Ott's kitchen baseboard
One of the chats concerns a laptop with the said SINA technology. The abbreviation stands for “Secure Inter-Network Architecture”, which enables the transmission and processing of sensitive information in insecure networks. Such a device is said to have been handed over to men in Vienna on November 19, 2022, in an apartment belonging to Otts' former son-in-law, who are attributed to the FSB by investigators.
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