Vienna: Further charges against former intelligence official Ott in BVT scandal
Vienna's public prosecutor has filed new charges against former BVT chief inspector Egisto Ott and his former superior Martin Weiss for breach of confidentiality obligations. The accusation: in 2017, Ott allegedly passed internal files to a journalist.
Vienna: Further charges against former intelligence official Ott in BVT scandal
The Vienna authorities have filed charges against Egisto Ott and Martin Weiss once again. The former chief inspector of the constitutional protection service and his then superior are accused of passing classified documents to a journalist in 2017. Specifically, it concerns a 26-page document that led to a search of the Federal Office for Constitutional Protection and Counter-Terrorism in February 2018 and ultimately sealed the end of the agency.
According to the charges, Ott allegedly disclosed confidential information in summer 2017 that was only accessible to him due to his official position. The document contained internal information about employees of the Interior Ministry. In addition, it accused a department head of having sold North Korean passport blanks to employees of the South Korean intelligence service.
The prosecutors accuse the two of endangering the protection of personal data as well as public security and order through their actions. Weiss is alleged to have assisted Ott in obtaining the information. All criminal investigations against the officials named in the document were later discontinued or ended in acquittals.
Ott continues to deny being the author of the document. Weiss is in Dubai and is currently beyond the reach of Austrian justice.
In May, Ott was already sentenced to more than four years in prison in separate proceedings for abuse of office, espionage and other offences. Both the defendant and the prosecution appealed against this sentence. In addition, Ott must answer charges relating to the disclosure of confidential information about an ATIB informant to a former FPÖ deputy.
Source: KURIER
Source: Kurier