2024-04-06 02:02:13
The central topic of domestic political news in Austrian newspapers, radio and television is the espionage affair surrounding former Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Combating Terrorism Egisto Ott, which is also becoming a political issue: the Austrian People’s Party (ANP) and NEOS accused The Austrian Freedom Party (APF) also made mutual accusations and against each other. The APS’s response followed immediately, and the Austrian Social Democratic Party (ASDP) also took a stand on the issue. As already reported, the Minister of Justice Alma Zadic announced a tightening of the paragraph on espionage, and at the same time additional details were published about the charges against Egisto Ot, BTA reported.
At a press conference, ANP Secretary General Christian Stocker referred to chats in which former APS National Council member Hans-Jörg Jenewein, who was also the party’s security spokesman, allegedly exchanged sums of money with Egisto Ott , whose purpose is not clarified.
The role of APS leader Herbert Kickle, who broke up the state security organization when he was interior minister, also needs to be clarified, Stocker was quoted as saying by Austrian broadcaster ORF. At the same time, there were plans to create a “parallel secret service” in the Foreign Ministry, which would also continue the policy led by the APS, the politician continued. There may be some connection here, he suggested in his statements to the media. The statements of NEOS leader Beate Meinal-Reisinger are similar.
According to Stocker, the history of the case will now be clarified in a subcommittee on “abuse of power”. Jenewein himself will be called as a witness. “This is probably the biggest espionage scandal of the Second Republic,” declared the general secretary of the ANP. It should also be investigated whether foreign secret services – such as those from Russia – have influenced the country’s domestic politics.
The criticism was dismissed by the APS: the ANP “sends its ‘fairytale uncle’ Stocker to divert attention from its own failures with false accusations from the party’s parallel universe”, is the opinion of APS general secretary Christian Hafeneker. The ANP’s attempt to “accuse others of political responsibility for the espionage scandal in the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Combating Terrorism” is exaggerated.
It is a fact that the current prime suspect, Egisto Ott, made a career in the Ministry of the Interior under the leadership of the ANP and that his espionage activities reached their peak under the director of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the Fight against Terrorism, Peter Griedling, who was appointed at ANP Interior Minister Gunther Plater, Hafeneker claims. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Combating Terrorism was dissolved at the end of 2021 and was transferred to the newly created Directorate for State Security and Intelligence, ORF recalls.
Stocker’s accusations are not limited to the APS, as according to his own statements, Egisto Ott was a member of the ASDP. The Social Democrats’ security spokesman Reinhold Einwallner, on the other hand, believes that the ANP and ASP are responsible. “The ANP held the Ministry of the Interior for 24 years, only to hand it over for two years to Kickle, who during that time destroyed the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Combating Terrorism.” The destruction of the service was agreed with the ANP. “The height of the absurd” is the fact that these two parties are now determining whose political responsibility for this scandal is, judges Einwallner.
Stocker also wants to clarify the relationship between Egisto Ott and the former Green MP Peter Pilz, from whom he had received information. Stocker also reports another connection: with the leader of the NEOS list for the upcoming European elections, Helmut Brandstetter, “who is said to have been in contact with Ott”. The latter must clarify the content of these contacts. “The only party that does not appear in the entire network of contacts is the ANP,” says Stocker.
NEOS leader Beate Meinl-Reisinger immediately reacted to the statements and stressed that Brandstetter had met many people in the course of the Ibiza investigation, but that there was probably no politician who had spoken out as strongly against Russian influence in Austria as Brandstetter. “I see attempts to scandalize the ANP and I can only call on Mr. Stocker to put his own house in order.”
Meinl-Reisinger points out that her party has been calling for tougher criminal laws against espionage for years. She will also submit relevant proposals at the next session of the National Council (Austrian Parliament). In addition, the number of Russian diplomats in Austria should be reduced to a minimum, the politician believes, and the Office for the Protection of the Constitution should have adequate resources to be able to take effective action against espionage.
The last few days and weeks have shown that we cannot continue like this, emphasized Meinel-Reisinger, quoted by ORF. Austria is completely defenseless against espionage. She also dwells on the events surrounding the investigative journalist Hristo Grozev, who until the beginning of last year lived in Vienna and against whom actions were taken by the Russian services, in which Egisto Ott apparently also participated. “Grozev had to leave Vienna more than a year ago because he was warned that he was no longer safe here in Vienna,” Meinl-Reisinger says. “It’s a matter of life and death.”
According to articles in the daily Standard and a report broadcast on the late TV news, agents who were detained in Britain broke into Grozev’s apartment in Vienna and stole his laptop and a USB stick. According to the article in the Standard, before Egisto Ott identified himself with his police card and requested Grozev’s address registration from the state population registration office, after which he took photos of the address in question and forwarded the information to Moscow.