Status: 10/15/2021 12:55 p.m.
Ex-Chancellor Kurz has been a member of the Austrian Parliament again since yesterday. So he enjoys immunity. Austrian public prosecutors have now applied for repeal.
In the course of the corruption affair surrounding ex-Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, Austrian public prosecutors have applied for his immunity to be lifted. A corresponding request for extradition was confirmed by the Economic and Corruption Prosecutor’s Office.
After his resignation as Chancellor of Austria, Kurz was sworn in as a member of parliament yesterday. So he enjoys immunity. Despite the corruption investigations, he remains party leader of the conservative ÖVP and will in future lead the parliamentary group in the National Council.
Parliament now has to decide on the waiver of immunity in one of its next sessions. Until this decision is made, the investigation against the 35-year-old will be canceled for the time being, said a spokesman for the judicial authority. The ÖVP parliamentary group welcomed the move. This will soon make it possible to refute the allegations against Kurz.
Kurz rejects all allegations
Kurz resigned on Saturday evening under pressure from the corruption investigation against him. Last week it became known that the Economic and Corruption Prosecutor’s Office was investigating suspicions of breach of trust, bribery and corruption. The ex-chancellor’s team is said to have secured his rise to the top of the ÖVP and government since 2016 through embellished surveys and bought positive media reports.
In return, large sums of money, including taxpayers’ money, are said to have been used for advertisements. In addition, the public prosecutor’s office is investigating Kurz on suspicion of false testimony in the Ibiza investigation committee. Kurz dismissed all allegations so far as “wrong” and refused to withdraw from politics.
Schallenberg is Kurz’s close confidante
The ex-chancellor also rejected calls for a new government without the participation of his ÖVP. At his suggestion, the previous Foreign Minister, Alexander Schallenberg, was appointed head of government. Schallenberg is considered to be a close confidante of Kurz. The new Chancellor, unsurprisingly, backed his predecessor with regard to the corruption allegations.
Meanwhile, the pollster Sabine Beinschab, arrested in connection with the corruption scandal, was released. The economic and corruption prosecutor in Vienna announced that no application for pre-trial detention had been made. Accordingly, the original reason for the risk of blackout no longer exists. Beinschab was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of destroying evidence. The employee of a survey institute is said to have deleted the hard drive of her work computer before searches by the public prosecutor’s office.