The Telegraph reported that Jan Marsalek tied former Chancellor Sebastian Kurz’s 2021 departure to a seized phone, but the file it reviewed did not independently corroborate Marsalek’s claim that he arranged the seizure.
According to the newspaper, Marsalek sent a message to Orlin Roussev on Oct. 22, 2021, using the alias “Rupert Ticz.” He wrote that his side had “successfully toppled” Kurz by taking a phone connected to campaign financing. The message came nearly two years after Austrian investigators seized the device, The Telegraph reported.
The newspaper identified the phone as belonging to Thomas Schmid, a Kurz associate and former senior finance ministry official. Investigators seized it on Nov. 12, 2019, according to the report. The Telegraph said investigators interpreted Marsalek’s message as a claim of involvement, but the file did not independently substantiate his assertion that he organized the seizure.
The report also said investigators could not determine whether a person Marsalek described as working “for us” had ties to Wirecard or Russian intelligence. An assessment cited by The Telegraph said the inquiry into the phone matter was continuing. The report did not establish that the Kremlin directed an effort to remove Kurz.
Austria’s Economic and Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (WKStA) announced an investigation on Oct. 6, 2021, into Kurz, nine other people and three organizations over suspected breach of trust, bribery and corruption. The office said the inquiry included allegations that federal Finance Ministry funds paid for politically favorable polling, some of it allegedly manipulated, and that a media company received payments in exchange for favorable coverage.
Kurz announced on Oct. 9 that he would step aside to avoid political chaos and said the accusations against him were false. Government records list his term as chancellor as ending Oct. 11, 2021.
