UPDATE ON THE DANIEL FROSCH EXPORT CASE

S E C R E T VIENNA 000626 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR ISN/MTR AND EUR/AGS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/13/2017 TAGS: PARM PREL MNUC ETTC MTCRE AU IR SUBJECT: UPDATE ON THE DANIEL FROSCH EXPORT CASE REF: A) STATE 25113 B) 06 VIENNA 3173 Classified By: Economic-Political Counselor Gregory E. Phillips for reasons 1.5 (b) and (d). ¶1. (S/NF) On March 9, Acting Econ-Pol Counselor met with Helmut Krehlik, Head of the Ministry of Economy's Export and Import Controls Division to receive an update on the Daniel Frosch Export (DFE) case and to convey ref A information. Krehlik said that an appeals court had indeed released Erich Frosch on bail and dropped the more controversial proliferation charge. However, Erich Frosch is still charged with fraud and with violating the Austrian Foreign Trade Act. Krehlik promised to inquire with his Justice Ministry contacts for more information on a prospective trial date. ¶2. (S/NF) Efforts to Bring Daniel Frosch Back to Austria: Krehlik admitted that he is not involved in the operational aspects of trying to bring Frosch back to Austria (ref B),so he would have to inquire discretely with his contacts in the Austrian domestic security service (BVT). He opined that it would be difficult for Austria to convince the UAE to extradite Frosch because of the byzantine political scene in the UAE. He suggested that the USG should bring this up directly with UAE officials. ¶3. (S/NF) Daniel Frosch's Brother and U.S.-origin Potentiometers: Krehlik had no additional information on this subject, to which he had earlier alerted us (ref B). According to Embassy's DHS/ICE office, the U.S. supplier shipped two sample potentiometers to DFE in December 2006, but there was no follow-up order. ¶4. (S/NF) Comment: Embassy's DHS/ICE office continues to work very closely with the Austrian police on the Erich Frosch and Daniel Frosch cases. A team of DHS experts visited Vienna in January 2007 to assist the Austrian authorities in analyzing electronic data from the DFE (ref B). This work and other operations are on-going and therefore post continues to ask the understanding of Washington agencies regarding the sensitive nature of the case. McCaw