Fugitive former Wirecard executive Jan Marsalek boasted in secret messages that his Russian spy network brought down Sebastian Kurz, Austria's former chancellor, according to a report in The Telegraph published on Saturday.

Marsalek, who fled Europe after the German payments company Wirecard collapsed in 2020 owing creditors almost $4 billion, is accused by British authorities of directing an espionage network across Europe on behalf of Russian intelligence. His whereabouts are unknown.

According to The Telegraph, Marsalek sent the messages in October 2021 to Orlin Roussev, who headed a Bulgarian spy ring operating from Britain. In them, Marsalek wrote that his group had "successfully toppled" Kurz by confiscating the mobile phone of the man "who's managing their secret campaign financing". He later added that "the rest of the chats 'killed' the chancellor".

The man Marsalek referred to was Thomas Schmid, a close associate of Kurz and a former senior official in Austria's Finance Ministry. Schmid's phone was seized in November 2019, and the messages found on it became central evidence in corruption investigations into Kurz's Austrian People's Party.

On 6 October 2021, Austrian prosecutors raided the chancellor's office, the Finance Ministry and the party's headquarters as part of an investigation into suspicions that public funds had been used to finance opinion polls and media coverage designed to present Kurz in a positive light. Kurz announced his resignation as chancellor on 9 October 2021. He denied the allegations against him.

The Telegraph stressed that the files contain no independent evidence that Marsalek organised the seizure of Schmid's phone, and the documents do not show that Russian services caused Kurz's resignation. Austrian investigators, however, wrote in an assessment that Marsalek "stated unequivocally that 'they' had 'toppled' the chancellor in a successful operation", and that he had admitted involvement in the confiscation of the phone.

The messages were among hundreds of thousands exchanged between Marsalek and Roussev that were found on devices seized by British police when Roussev was arrested in 2023. Members of the network were later convicted in Britain of espionage offences, and Roussev was sentenced to ten years and eight months in prison. UK authorities shared the messages with other European police forces, including the Austrians.

The Austrian investigation is continuing, looking into suspicions of passing sensitive information to Russian elements and interference in Austrian politics. Several former Austrian intelligence officers have been accused of handing information to Marsalek. In May, a jury in Vienna found former Austrian intelligence official Egisto Ott guilty of spying for Russia, after finding he had provided Marsalek and Russian intelligence officers with information.

British prosecutors have said that at the time the messages were sent, Marsalek was living in Moscow and worked for the Russian Federal Security Service. Moscow has regularly accused Western powers of trying to inflame anti-Russian hysteria.

The report comes as security agencies in several countries have assessed that the Kremlin is aiming to destabilise governments across Europe. One analyst told The Telegraph that Russia's willingness to use espionage, coercion and sabotage to sow division within Europe was now greater than in 2021, and that the Kremlin was likely to become more, not less, belligerent despite revelations such as these.

Kurz, who became Austria's chancellor in 2017 at 31, was at the time the youngest leader in the world. He did not comment on the report, but sources close to him said he believed the allegations against him were politically motivated and that he was shocked to learn they could be related to Russia.