The focus of an espionage case involving the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Combating Terrorism (BVT) is its former head of department, Martin Weiss. The Vienna public prosecutor's office listed him in its arrest warrant as a “contact person and client” of former BVT chief inspector Egisto Ott. Weiss allegedly worked with Ott for former Wireguard board member John Marsalek in the interests of the Russian Secret Service. Weiss has been fooling the domestic judiciary since 2021.
The former counterintelligence chief of the now-defunct BVT was arrested on January 22, 2021, after the Wireguard bankruptcy was exposed and evidence that Weiss had helped Marsalek make a hasty escape to Russia from Bad Voslau airport. During the trial, Weiss admitted to ordering personal data or checks for Marsalek in 25 cases from late 2018 to 2020 and appointing Ota to execute them. Two days after his arrest, on January 24, 2021, Weiss was again released and promised to be ready for trial and comply with subpoenas. However, he no longer conforms to this.
Instead, Weiss left for Dubai — with Marsalek's support, as chats now show between Marsalek and Orlin Roussev, the head of a multi-member Russian intelligence unit operating in Great Britain that Marsalek is believed to have coordinated, where he now works. The Russian domestic secret service must be the FSB. The chats were made available to “AG Fama” by British law enforcement officials in the fall of the previous year. An investigative team consisting of officials from the Federal Criminal Police Office and the Federal Office for Combating Corruption (BAK) was set up at the Ministry of the Interior at the end of July 2020 to shed light on suspicious processes at BVT. And in the case of the wirecard.
“I was able to get my Austrian husband out to Dubai. That was also quite an adventure. We were worried that he would be arrested again at the airport,” Marsalek wrote to Rousseff on February 22, 2021. Marsalek described the former BVT department chief as “a top-level fighter of terrorism, so there are people who really want to kill him.” From Dubai, Weiss allegedly used his long-standing professional contacts to obtain information for Marsalek, and allegedly gave work assignments to his former colleague Egisto Ott – bringing to the FSB the fraudulent work cell phones of Interior Ministry employees containing official secrets. Headquarters in Moscow.
In a January 2021 statement to APA regarding the provisional arrest of the former BVT officer, AG Fama, contrary to his announcement, released from custody and after the final hearing on January 27, 2021, Weiss said “further investigations are no longer available” and “for investigations of the accused or for separate legal proceedings”. “has not shown any willingness to comply with summonses from his residence in Dubai”. On the other hand, however, on April 4, 2022, he appeared at the Munich public prosecutor's office “without invitation or summons for a detailed interrogation of the accused without the involvement or knowledge of the Austrian police or judicial departments”. Austrian police officials are denied “any illegal activities by investigators” and “current knowledge of the whereabouts of or connections to John Marsalek.” The news magazine “Profile” reported on this in its latest issue.
Based on documents from Great Britain, it appears to “AG FAMA” that “John Marsalek agreed to the transfer of Martin Weiss to Dubai” and that “further communication was maintained between Marsalek and Weiss”. Weiss was safe in Dubai because there is no extradition treaty with the UAE and the international arrest warrant would have a purely symbolic effect.
However, things turned awkward for Weiss when the Economic and Corruption State Prosecutor's Office (WKStA) filed charges of abuse of office against him and other former BVT officials in connection with Operation “White Milk”. BVT on behalf of the Israeli foreign secret service Mossad concerned allegations that it housed a Syrian state security general in Austria and granted him asylum despite the lack of legal requirements – regardless of the fact that the general was jointly responsible. Opponents of the Syrian regime are responsible for the Raqqa torture. Weiss allegedly executed specific planning and execution through illegal instructions to a department head under him. A Syrian State Security Service officer who left his homeland was actually picked up by the BVT at the Austrian border on June 13, 2015, driven to Vienna in a company vehicle and taken to a residence. Two days later, the general submitted a prearranged asylum application at the East Dreiskirchen initial reception center.
From April 14, 2023, Operation “White Milk” was tried at the Vienna Regional Court. However, unlike his former colleagues who were eventually acquitted after a three-month trial, Weiss did not submit to this trial. Shortly before the trial began, his attorney submitted a letter from a patient stating that Weiss was unable to attend the trial or be transported due to illness. The WKStA demanded that this claim be medically tested.
The court also complied, as Christina Salsborn, spokeswoman for the Vienna Regional Court, explained in response to an APA request. Based on the documents submitted to him, a forensic pathologist concluded that Weiss's alleged post-operative complaints alone were insufficient to justify incapacity for transport. The specialist felt that he could travel. Weiss has mentioned his poor mental health through his lawyer, but a request to explain this in more detail has not been complied with. Neither Weiss nor his legal representative would comment.
Even contact with Martin Weiss eventually broke off. According to reports from Justice Department sources, Weiss is no longer available after her attorney who represented her in the “white milk” case revoked her power of attorney last year. In relation to Operation “White Milk” activities, the WKStA applied to the Vienna Regional Court to issue an arrest warrant, as they initially fought for the release of co-criminals, including the former head of counterintelligence. He wanted to abscond, flee to Dubai and face criminal charges. However, no decision has yet been taken on this application, which is purely related to abuse of office and not to the investigations against Weiss, which have been ongoing since 2021 at the Vienna Public Prosecutor's Office, since the WKStA first withdrew it. A cancellation complaint was filed against those acquitted in the first case.
