Former Austrian Intelligence Official Goes on Trial Accused of Spying for Russia

By Blessing Nweke

Former Austrian intelligence official Egisto Ott went on trial in Vienna on Thursday, accused of spying for Russia in what authorities describe as the country’s biggest espionage case in years. The 63year old is charged with passing sensitive information to Russian intelligence officers and to Jan Marsalek, the fugitive former executive of collapsed German payments firm Wirecard. Ott has denied all charges.

Prosecutors allege that Ott abused his authority while working in Austrian intelligence by illegally collecting large amounts of personal and classified data between 2015 and 2021. According to the indictment, this included information on individuals’ locations, vehicle registrations and travel movements, much of it obtained without authorization from national and international police databases. Investigators say Ott handed the data to Marsalek and unidentified Russian intelligence representatives in exchange for payment.

Marsalek, an Austrian citizen, is wanted by German police for fraud following the 2020 collapse of Wirecard, when €1.9bn was found missing from the company’s accounts. He is believed to be in Moscow and is the subject of an Interpol Red Notice. Prosecutors say he is an intelligence asset for Russia’s FSB security service.

The case has reignited concerns that Austria remains vulnerable to Russian espionage. Prosecutors further allege that in 2022 Marsalek tasked Ott with obtaining a laptop containing secret EU electronic security hardware, which was later passed to Russian intelligence. Ott is also suspected of leaking phone data belonging to senior Austrian interior ministry officials.

If convicted of abuse of authority, corruption and espionage, Ott faces up to five years in prison. When he was arrested in 2024, then Chancellor Karl Nehammer called the case “a threat to democracy and our country’s national security.”

In a separate development, prosecutors have charged former far-right Freedom Party MP Thomas Schellenbacher with helping Marsalek flee Austria in 2020. The Freedom Party denies accusations of links to Russian espionage and faces no legal action.