“Of course the coalition is burdened by the actions of the ÖVP and the people who have acted there, especially in the past,” Green MP Nina Tomaselli said on Wednesday. The day before, incriminating statements by Kurz’s former close comrade in arms Thomas Schmid to the corruption prosecutor’s office were made public. In it, he described Kurz as the originator of tax-funded and manipulated surveys.
Thanks to Schmid’s extensive information, these and other well-known allegations have now become “very hard evidence,” said Tomaselli, who represents her party on a parliamentary inquiry into alleged corruption in the conservative chancellor’s party ÖVP. However, she did not put an end to the coalition in the room. Now it is the turn of the judiciary, she emphasized.
Kurz resigned last year in the course of corruption investigations, paving the way for his successor Karl Nehammer as head of government and the party.
According to Schmid, Kurz helped the Treasury Department place advertisements in a newspaper, which in turn published manipulated surveys. The Treasury said some of the investigations were covertly funded. Kurz’s attorney has denied the allegations.
Schmid, who previously worked as chief of staff at the Ministry of Finance, among other things, also indicted incumbent parliament speaker Wolfgang Sobotka. The ÖVP politician intervened with Schmid on tax matters of party-related organizations. Sobotka described this on Wednesday as “completely unfounded”.
(SDA)