THE boss of a major tech company has been accused of helping an alleged UK-based Russian spy ring as they plotted to abduct Kremlin targets.
Jan Marsalek was named as a “tasker” for the spy ring yesterday as the two women and three men appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
The Austrian tycoon, who has not been charged, has been on the run since tech firm Wirecard collapsed in 2020 amid allegations of fraud.
Marsalek, 43, who was responsible for the company’s business in Asia, is believed to have fled to Russia after the “elaborate and sophisticated fraud” was exposed.
He aided the five Bulgarian nationals as they monitored targets for “potential abduction” from their British seaside hotel HQ, it is alleged.
Orlin Roussev, 45, Bizer Dzhambazov, 41, Katrin Ivanova, 31, Ivan Stoyanov, 31, and Vanya Gaberova, 29, are accused of conspiring to gather information that would be useful to an enemy between August 2020 and February this year.
They used a surveillance kit to gain information and pass it onto Marsalek in Russia while working for a UK network, the court heard.
This information was allegedly used to “conduct hostile acts” against specific targets, including their “potential abductions”.
Roussev’s seaside hotel home in Great Yarmouth was used as the “operating hub” for the alleged spying offences, it was said.
The five defendants were arrested under the British Official Secrets Act following raids on properties in London and Great Yarmouth.
Last month it emerged Dzhambazov and Ivanova had lived an unsuspecting life in Britain for ten years.
Dzhambazov has reportedly worked as a hospital driver, while Ivanova worked as a private sector laboratory assistant.
The pair would visit their neighbours with pies and cakes as gifts and were popular figures in their community in Harrow, North London.
They were previously charged alongside Roussev with possession of false identity documents with “improper intention”.
Gaberova meanwhile is an award-winning beautician who ran a salon called Pretty Woman in Acton, West London.
All five were arrested by the Metropolitan Police Counter-Terrorism Command in February under the Official Secrets Act.
The group has been remanded into custody ahead of a hearing at the Old Bailey on October 13.
