As of: 25.09.2021 12:37 p.m.
Austria’s Chancellor Kurz is accused of having made false statements to the committee of inquiry into the Ibiza affair. In the judicial interrogation, he justified himself – and accused the prosecutor of partiality.
The several hours of judicial interrogation of Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz on suspicion of false testimony before the Ibiza investigative committee was irritable, emotional and sometimes heated. Kurz was asked by the judge several times not to lose the role – for which the Chancellor apologized.
This emerges from the minutes of the interrogation of September 3, from which the daily newspapers of Austria, such as the “Standard”, the “Presse” or the “Kurier” quote and which they say are available in full.
Kurz then said that before the first hearing before the Ibiza Committee of Inquiry in the summer of last year, his staff insisted on him “always telling the truth and if you can’t remember, just say you can’t remember”.
Investigations against Kurz for false statements
The subject of the questioning by the judge are the investigations of the economic and corruption prosecutor’s office, according to which Kurz repeatedly gave false testimony to his confidante Thomas Schmid when the committee asked about his role in the allocation of the position on the board of directors of the ÖBAG state holding company.
When he was questioned by the judge, Kurz said that he knew that the prosecution had secured numerous chat messages from his employees and confidants. “I don’t know what you think of me, but I’m not a complete idiot,” the Chancellor told the judge. If he knew that the judge had these SMS messages before him, then it would be almost absurd to say something different on purpose.
Kurz stated that in principle he only dealt marginally with the state holding company ÖBAG. The state holdings in large Austrian groups amounting to around 26 billion euros are combined in ÖBAG.
Kurz accuses the prosecutor of partiality
At the interrogation, the investigator, who was also present, had been repeatedly accused of partiality by the economic and corruption prosecutor. He has been dealing with this topic for months and it annoys him “terribly” that bits of text from the SMS messages are interpreted against him.
The public prosecutor asked the Federal Chancellor whether this was directed against him. “In your direction, yes,” Kurz replied. After the judge intervened, Kurz replied: “I’ve already got myself back.”
At another point in the five-hour interrogation, the judge said of the Chancellor’s verbal attacks on the public prosecutor: “Now I will speak briefly. I understand that the whole thing is going to be emotional.” But he now has to say, “Please limit your use of language a little”. Thereupon the Chancellor: “I’m sorry, things will be done.”
Only in the middle of this week had the Federal Chancellery announced that Kurz had been heard by the judge on September 3 as a suspect. Austria’s opposition parties announced months ago that Kurz would have to resign if charges were brought against him against false statements. The Chancellor has emphasized several times that he wants to remain in office even in the event of an indictment.