SPIONAGE (6): Agent thriller: New lead to the Deputy CEO of OMV

An controversial security project of the OMV subsidiary Petrom is getting closer to the top management of the oil corporation. Hundreds of thousands of euros were once paid into a dubious network of lawyers, a German private agent, and a management consultant from Vienna. Now there is a new trace to OMV board member Johann Pleininger. Sixth part of the investigation by ADDENDUM in the intelligence milieu.

Who is "Otto"? This is what Addendum has been wanting to know from the mineral oil company OMV for weeks. Since the name "Otto" appeared during investigations into the espionage thriller involving the German intelligence trader Christina Wilkening.

The next day, another email followed to Wilkening: "Otto and I have discussed this at length. [...] should think about it alone. We currently have no further need for Peter. I am willing to continue financing him until 31.12. Then it's final. Otto is considering a lawsuit. I have so far prevented him from doing so."

"Otto" here, "Otto" there - "Otto" everywhere?

"Otto" is so important that a meeting has to be rescheduled if he is unavailable. With "Otto," it was discussed how the billing should be structured. "Otto" decides whether someone is sued or not. In short, "Otto" was of central importance for the project mentioned in these emails, which carried the name "Scout." Clearly, he made crucial decisions. This project, which involved transferring hundreds of thousands of euros through dubious channels from the corporation or its subsidiary Petrom to individuals kept partially in the dark. Remember: OMV is owned by Austrian taxpayers to almost a third, and they can expect a high level of transparency.

Addendum extensively reported on "Scout" in early May 2018.

The key persons involved in "Scout" were:

Christina Wilkening: The "business consultant" from Berlin was known as "Nina" in her early years, working for the Stasi. Later, the now 71-year-old worked as a private agent and earned millions. In early 2017, she was sentenced to prison for bribing a German police commissioner for research on the police computer and other services. This included the "Scout" project for OMV-Petrom.

Heinz-Peter Hahndorf: The police detective from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania was paid by Wilkening for illicit activities. For the "Scout" project alone, the now 62-year-old received a total of 265,000 euros from the agent over several years. Here, he also made illegal person or vehicle queries. Hahndorf was also supposed to develop a concept to curb oil thefts in Romania. That is probably not illegal. However, the German police inspector admitted in court to being "totally uninformed" in this field.

Barbara Schütze: The NLP trainer and communication consultant from Vienna has also worked for decades as a coach for top managers. She wrote the emails mentioned at the beginning, which referred to "Otto." It is questionable why a PR specialist from Austria is central to a security project of an international mineral oil company with a focus on Romania. Together with attorney David Kubes, Schütze was the owner of the Romanian security company Delta Security Consulting S.R.L.

David Kubes and Thomas Passeyrer: The two attorneys from Vienna acted as trustees of a company through which the project "Scout" was billed to the OMV corporation. The email states: "1. the managing directors Dr. Kubes and Mag. Passeyrer are and have always been the TRUSTEES of the ENP, to keep XY (an involved person; Ed.) invisible. They always maintained contact with OMV and placed the invoices there as stipulated by XY."

But who is "Otto"?

"Otto" is a codename: for a person who apparently should not appear with their real name in such a project. As reported, Addendum's research strongly suggested that "Otto" was OMV's Deputy CEO Johann Pleininger. Addendum already asked OMV and Pleininger whether this is true. The response: no answer. Up to now.

It is surprising that a publicly traded company like OMV does not provide information on whether its deputy CEO was involved in a dubious project under a pseudonym - or not - is surprising. Or maybe not. After all, one of the internal emails also mentioned that money should be "redirected and 'concealed' distributed."

Under the backseat of a VW Bora

There is now a new lead. This is related to the appearance of a hard drive. A data carrier that was once - well concealed - hidden under the backseat of a VW Bora.

This is a hard drive from ex-detective Hahndorf, which had data on projects with Agent Wilkening stored on it. Among other things, there was also an Excel file named "1-Telephone directory-NEW." Addendum has a printout. It includes not only Barbara Schütze and proponents of the Wilkening network but also other prominent personalities: such as a former chief trainer of the Mossad, the security chief of an automotive corporation, and the forensic chief of a well-known auditing company.

On page 2, there is also an entry labeled "OTTO."

"Otto", the Romania expert

According to the list, "OTTO" had an Austrian mobile number. In a column labeled "Remarks" it says: "Board of Exploration PETROM." This greatly narrows down the circle of possible individuals.

Otto - actually: Johann - Pleininger was Exploration Director of Petrom from 2007 to 2013. And ex-detective Hahndorf, who was supposed to create a personal security concept for Pleininger, worked on the more than dubious "Scout" project from 2008 to 2011.

Text & Image: Addendum.

Addendum series SPIONAGE:

The Introduction on SPARTANAT: A secret agent in the service of corporations and their trail to the BVT

Part 1: The Austria connection of the intelligence trader

Part 2: They were in the swamp in Romania

Part 3: How the "Nina" system was exposed

Part 4: Spy thriller about an oil company: The justice system investigates the brigadier

Part 5: The agent, the Russian politician, and his lawyer

More to come ...

This article was first published on ADDENDUM.

ADDENDUM on the Internet: www.addendum.org.