Graduate of Vienna's WU with an income of around 107,000 euros a year
According to the Austrian outlet oe24, Pavel S. is a graduate of the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU), divorced, and the father of three children. He joined HiPP's Upper Austrian plant in Gmunden in 2019 as a manager. The Czech tabloid daily Blesk, citing the Austrian Kronen Zeitung, reports an annual income of approximately 107,000 euros and an apartment of roughly 75 square meters with two terraces and its own garden in the Austrian spa town of St. Gilgen on Lake Wolfgangsee, which Pavel S. reportedly purchased in 2021. oe24 ↗ Blesk ↗Blesk, citing Krone, states that after the pandemic Pavel S.'s private life began to fall apart — he left his wife and children, and the company sent him on frequent trips across Europe. Blesk ↗
The end in Gmunden: two versions of the story
There are two versions of why Pavel S. left the HiPP plant in Upper Austria. His legal representative, Manfred Arbacher-Stöger, insists in an interview for ORF Burgenland that it was a "mutually agreed termination of employment" — according to him, the production line in Gmunden was being shut down, and his client refuses to speak of revenge. "I must firmly reject this," the lawyer said, according to ORF, regarding the accusations. ORF Burgenland ↗ Nachrichten.at ↗A different version is presented by STVR and the Czech outlet Blesk, both citing Austrian sources: in March 2026, indications of fraud and tax offenses reportedly appeared on Pavel S.'s work laptop, after which HiPP management quickly terminated his employment. According to Blesk, former colleagues say he had already been raising concerns among them before his arrest. Through his lawyer, Pavel S. himself, by contrast, states that the dismissal "did not trouble him," and that he therefore allegedly has no motive for revenge. STVR ↗ Blesk ↗
The extortion letter and five jars
On the night of April 18, HiPP warned of contaminated packages of the product Gemüseglas Karotte mit Kartoffel 190 g. The Austrian retail chain Spar and other retailers preemptively pulled the product from shelves. In an extortion letter sent to the company, someone demanded two million euros in cryptocurrency and threatened further contaminated jars, this time without an identifying label on the bottom. Police seized five jars before consumption — two in the Czech Republic, two in Slovakia, and one in Austria. The second jar, which according to the letter writer's notice was supposed to arrive without a label, has not yet been found. ORF Burgenland ↗ Der Standard ↗Austrian police identified the Slovak suspect through data analysis of the extortion email, detained him on Saturday, May 3, in the state of Salzburg, and on Tuesday, May 5, the court in Eisenstadt remanded him to 14 days of pre-trial detention. Lukas Belza, spokesperson for the Eisenstadt regional court, told ORF that the judge confirmed a serious suspicion of these offenses, and justified the detention on grounds of flight risk, risk of obstruction of the investigation, and risk of reoffending. ORF Burgenland ↗ aktuality.sk ↗
A toxicological report from May 7 on the jar seized in Austria showed that a dose of approximately 15 micrograms of rodenticide would not, according to the Eisenstadt prosecutor's office, have been life-threatening to a child, but could have led to reduced blood clotting and mild bleeding. The Austrian report concerned the jar seized in Austria, not the jars seized in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, where investigations are being conducted by local authorities. ta3 ↗ Der Standard ↗
Second lead: pay slips and loans at a Slovak bank
Shortly after the detention order, Kronen Zeitung broke a second storyline, which was also picked up by ORF Burgenland, VOL.AT, and the Slovak daily Pravda. According to Austrian sources, Pavel S. allegedly altered one or two pay slips and used the falsified documentation to obtain unspecified loans from a Slovak bank. The bank's name has not been made public. He reportedly used these funds to buy land in the state of Salzburg shortly before his arrest. ORF Burgenland ↗ VOL.AT ↗ Pravda.sk ↗Lawyer Arbacher-Stöger admitted to VOL.AT that "one or another pay slip was altered," but described the alteration as "not entirely honest." The Eisenstadt prosecutor's office has so far declined to comment on the newspaper report, and according to ORF Burgenland has no new statement on the matter. The prosecutor's office has not yet publicly confirmed that it has brought a separate charge in this matter. VOL.AT ↗ ORF Burgenland ↗
Smartwatch, a small farm, and the defense
Through his lawyer, Pavel S. denies all the accusations. He handed investigators his smartwatch with GPS data, which, according to Arbacher-Stöger, is meant to prove that he was not, at the relevant times, in the places to which the contaminated jars were sent. The rodenticide that police found at his home in Salzburg, the defense says, belonged to his small farm in Slovakia. aktuality.sk ↗ ta3 ↗ ORF Burgenland ↗What HotInfo is following
- Detention review (Haftprüfung) on Tuesday, May 19 — the Eisenstadt regional court will decide whether the pre-trial detention will be extended or lifted. ORF Burgenland ↗
- Possible expansion of charges to include attempted serious coercion (so far according to oe24) or the media-reported suspicion of loan fraud (Krone, ORF Burgenland) — the prosecutor's office has not yet publicly confirmed any expansion of charges. oe24 ↗ ORF Burgenland ↗
- Actions by Slovak police against the suspect regarding loan fraud — neither the name of the bank involved nor the actions of the law enforcement authorities have yet been made public. Pravda.sk ↗
- The missing unlabeled jar — Index.hu is following the case, but Hungary has not yet issued a public alert. Index.hu ↗
- Official statement from HiPP following the detention order — the company last commented before the arrest, via Die Presse, and has not issued any public comments since May 5. ORF Burgenland ↗
- Scope of the preventive recall at Tesco in Slovakia and in Brno, and a possible extension to other chains. Blesk ↗
