Status: 10/6/2021 5:25 p.m.
Austria’s Chancellor Kurz is once again targeted by the judiciary. The police searched the Chancellery and the party headquarters on suspicion of bribery. A government crisis is looming.
In Austria, investigators searched the Chancellery and the party headquarters of the conservative ÖVP, as a party spokeswoman confirmed. Among other things, the workplaces of the spokesman and the media officer of Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) were in the sights of the investigators.
According to the Economic and Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (WKSTA) in Vienna, Kurz and his colleagues are suspected of having bought positive media coverage with tax money. According to the WKSTA, the suspicions begin in 2016 when Kurz, as foreign minister, began to strive for the top position in the ÖVP and for the chancellery.
Government crisis is looming
According to the investigators, there are indications that funds from the Ministry of Finance for the publication of “exclusively party-politically motivated, sometimes manipulated surveys by an opinion research company” were used in the interests of Kurz. In addition, payments were allegedly made to a media company – as “concealed consideration for the accused actually given the opportunity to influence the editorial reporting in this media company.”
This could lead to a government crisis. The alliance of the ÖVP and the Greens has recently been repeatedly burdened by allegations of the ÖVP against the judiciary. Vice Chancellor and Greens leader Werner Kogler said that “attacks on the judiciary as a whole should be rejected”.
ÖVP parliamentary group leader: “Hold against it with all your might”
The deputy ÖVP general secretary Gabriela Schwarz spoke in a message of false accusations. “It always happens with the same goal and system: massively damaging the People’s Party and Sebastian Kurz,” she said. The investigators apparently want a “show effect”.
ÖVP parliamentary group leader August Wöginger announced resistance. “We will oppose this with all our might, both on the political and on the legal level.”
Opposition calls for a special session
The opposition parties, however, see the investigation as confirmation of the corruption suspicion in Chancellor Kurz’s environment and called for a special session of parliament. In a joint communication from the SPÖ, FPÖ and Neos, the deputy SPÖ club boss Jörg Leichtfried is quoted as saying that in addition to the judiciary, he has to answer to parliament and the public.
“The judiciary’s allegations against Chancellor Kurz, his closest collaborators and the ÖVP are serious and unique in the Second Republic. The Federal Chancellor of the Republic is suspected of serious crimes, something like this has never happened before,” said the politician from Austria’s largest opposition party . The special session should take place as soon as possible.
House searches in the center of power – Chancellor Kurz’s closest collaborators
Clemens Verenkotte, ARD Vienna, October 6th, 2021 4:45 p.m.