In Austria, the investigation against former Finance Minister Gernot Blümel (ÖVP) has been discontinued on suspicion of bribery. This was announced by the Economic and Corruption Public Prosecutor’s Office (WKStA). The investigations against two other unnamed suspects have also been discontinued.
The suspicion of bribery and corruption was investigated in connection with alleged party donations that were offered by a manager of a gambling company. In return, the company is said to have expected support from officials with additional tax demands abroad. Blümel had always rejected the allegations. The investigation was one of many investigations that were started after the so-called Ibiza video surrounding the former Vice Chancellor and head of the right-wing populist FPÖ, Heinz-Christian Strache. Some of these investigations are still ongoing.
Blümel, who was considered a close confidant of ex-Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, who was also targeted by the judiciary, was Finance Minister from January 2020 to December 2021. Kurz had to resign as chancellor in 2021 due to corruption allegations. He is also being investigated for possible false statements before a parliamentary committee of inquiry. Kurz denies any wrongdoing.
According to the WKStA, the starting point for the investigation was a chat from 2017 between the accused, from which it emerged that the accused person in charge of the gambling company asked for an appointment with the then Foreign Minister Kurz in order to clarify a tax problem for the company abroad. A potential donation was mentioned in the same message.
The WKStA explained that there was no evidence of any specific donations from the gambling company to the party. The chat history alone does not allow for a clearly criminal interpretation without further evidence. Evidence is no longer available in relevant areas or data relating to official communication has been deleted. The investigation should therefore be stopped.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this text referred to Blümel as a former FPÖ politician. We have corrected the relevant passage.