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Investing.com -- Austria is examining the possibility of stripping citizenship from Jan Marsalek, the former Wirecard executive who has been a fugitive since the company’s 2020 collapse, the interior ministry announced on Tuesday.
"Media reports have been published in recent days and weeks concerning Jan Marsalek, his stay in Russia and his activities that require that an application to revoke his Austrian citizenship be looked into meticulously and comprehensively," the Austrian interior ministry said in a statement.
The citizenship review follows recent joint reporting by several news outlets including Germany’s Der Spiegel, The Insider, and Austria’s Der Standard. Their September investigation claimed Marsalek is currently living in Moscow, likely working for Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), and had traveled to Ukraine with Russian special forces.
Further evidence of Marsalek’s ties to Russia emerged during a London trial in March, where three Bulgarians were convicted of espionage for Russia. During those trial, police and prosecutors identified Marsalek as the head of the spy unit.
Marsalek, 45, disappeared shortly after German payments firm Wirecard failed, leaving creditors with nearly $4 billion in losses. As the company’s chief operating officer (COO), he was identified as a key suspect in what has been described as Germany’s largest post-war fraud case, but authorities have been unable to locate him.