Austria’s ex-chancellor
Corruption affair: Sebastian Kurz and the Russian oligarch
Sebastian Kurz was a popular and controversial Federal Chancellor – references to links to Russian business leaders have now been published before and during his term in office.
© Georg Hochmuth / AFP
New details on corruption allegations against Austria’s former Chancellor Sebastian Kurz. The nationally known manager Siegfried Wolf is said to have worked for the Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska – and was probably courted by Kurz at the same time.
The allegations against Sebastian Kurz and his former government environment are not diminishing. According to joint research by the Austrian newspaper “Der Standard” and the German weekly newspaper “Die Zeit”, there was already some influence from Russian business representatives during Kurz’s first term in office. The top manager Siegfried Wolf is said to have been the intermediary.
Many allegations against Oleg Deripaska
According to publications by the US Treasury Department, the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska has been investigated for years. The allegations range from bribery and money laundering through extortion and fraud to contract killing. In 2018, the USA decided to sanction the Russian company Rusal, and Deripaska’s GAZ automobile group was also sanctioned, reports the “Standard”.
Rusal is the world’s second largest aluminum manufacturer after the China Hongqiao Group. Deripaska co-founded the group and served as managing director from 2008 to 2018. In order to avert economic damage, he resigned as a result of the US sanctions. In late October 2021, the FBI raided two Deripaska’s properties in the United States, the report said.
Wolf was considered a confidante of Deripaska
Manager Siegfried Wolf switched to Rusal in 2010 and was observed by US authorities shortly after starting work for possible contacts with the Russian mafia, “Standard” continues. Wolf is said to have befriended Deripaska, who is also considered a confidante of Russian President Vladimir Putin. As a manager, Wolf publicly advertised the politics of the State Duma. In 2016, President Putin awarded him the “Order of Friendship”. In 2014, Wolf also became head of the supervisory board of the Austrian state holding company ÖIAG (now ÖBAG) for one year. According to public statements by the bank, Wolf is still chairman of the supervisory board of Sberbank Europe AG – a subsidiary of the largest Russian bank Sberbank. According to the “Standard”, Wolf also holds shares in Deripaskas’ auto supplier GAZ.
Kurz may have been part of the network even before his first term in office
But where is the connection to Sebastian Kurz? In 2016, the future Chancellor was in the election campaign for the chairmanship of the conservative Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP). The organizer of an election campaign event at that time was Siegfried Wolf, who was already employed by Rusal at the time. The proximity to Putin was already documented by the “Order of Friendship” at this point in time.
Two years later, in 2018, Kurz – now Chancellor – proposed that Siegfried Wolf be brought into the newly structured OBÄG as a member of the supervisory board. The Ministry of Finance was alarmed, chat histories of the then General Secretary Thomas Schmid show the disapproval of the project, and there were concerns about the external impact of Wolf’s appeal. In the end, however, Kurz’s proposal was not implemented: The consultant Christine Catasta was nominated for the post, but broke off the process prematurely. Finally, Helmut Kern took over the position and still holds it today.
In her testimony in the context of the proceedings against Sebastian Kurz at the beginning of October, Catasta spoke of a proposal to take over the post only temporarily and to “resign from the chair after a while”. SMS conversations between the then finance minister Hartwig Löger and Kurz substantiate this statement, the “Standard” continues.
Kurz denies influencing and by Wolf
So was there a plan? Should the post of the head of the supervisory board of ÖBAG only be filled in pretense and then handed over to Wolf as soon as the criticism was no longer a topic of conversation? Siegfried Wolf did not comment on this, reported the “Standard”.
Sebastian Kurz already denied the allegation in the course of his interviews before the investigative committee of the economic and corruption prosecutor’s offices. “If you wanted to assume that Sigi Wolf donated or something like that, I can rule that out,” Kurz had said at the time. According to the report, Oleg Deripaska also firmly rejects the allegations against him.
Sources:default, The time, US Department of the Treasury