Former Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (36) is heavily taxed by one of his closest comrades in a corruption affair. Thomas Schmid (46), the former head of the state holding company ÖBAG, had testified for a total of 15 days at the prosecutor’s office for economic and corruption, the authority announced in Vienna on Tuesday.
According to extracts from the interrogation protocols published by various media outlets, Schmid said Kurz instructed him to distribute the taxpayer-funded polls.
“I got the job from Kurz”
The prosecutor’s office had already investigated the suspicion that Schmid, Kurz and others were involved in a survey affair. According to the published minutes, Schmid has now confirmed that the Treasury Department placed advertisements in a newspaper, which in turn published manipulated surveys. The investigations were also partly covertly funded by the Ministry of Finance.
According to the prosecutor’s office, this construction, known as a “tool”, was developed to pave the way for Kurz to lead the ÖVP party and the office of the chancellor in 2017.
“It is very important for me to emphasize that I only implemented this tool because I was commissioned by Kurz,” said Schmid, according to extracts from the minutes of the public broadcaster ORF and the editor-in-chief of the weekly magazine “Falter”. published. Neither Kurz nor his lawyer immediately commented.
Multiple house searches
According to the prosecutor’s office, Schmid’s statements also led to house searches on suspicion of bribery, corruption and abuse of office. A PR adviser close to the ÖVP confirmed to the Austrian news agency APA that her office had been searched. A major real estate company, which was also searched according to media reports, did not respond to a request from the German news agency.
The investigation of the corruption fighters was triggered by a video that was secretly recorded in Ibiza. In it, the then right-wing leader of the FPÖ, Heinz-Christian Strache, gave the impression that he was for sale. The publication of the video led to the split of the coalition between the conservative chancellor’s party ÖVP and the FPÖ in 2019. Shortly afterwards, he resigned from his position as Chancellor of Austria. (SDA)