It is being called Austria’s biggest espionage scandal for decades, which began with the arrest of a former domestic security official and has led to a raft of allegations and accusations.

Egisto Ott, 61, was detained at the end of March on suspicion of spying for Russia.

According to an 86-page Austrian police warrant, obtained by Austrian and German media, Mr Ott is suspected of passing information to Jan Marsalek, the fugitive executive of collapsed German payments firm Wirecard.

Mr Marsalek, 44 and also an Austrian citizen, is wanted by German police for alleged fraud and is currently believed to be in Moscow, having fled via Austria in 2020.

A recent report by a group of European newspapers said he was recruited by Russian agents in 2014.

The Austrian police warrant reportedly alleges that the former Wirecard boss commissioned Egisto Ott and another Austrian security officer to pass on sensitive information to Russia for several years, from 2017.

Mr Ott denies any wrongdoing, and he is currently in custody. He was suspended in 2017 and then detained four years later before being released. He was arrested at the end of last month after new evidence was supplied by British intelligence.

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