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The “Alois Mock Institute” founded by Sobotka is said to have received large sums of money from Novomatic. SPÖ and Neos want to report politician ÖVP on suspicion of false statement. The institute denies the accusations.
In view of the flow of money from the Novomatic gaming group to clubs close to the president of the National Council, Wolfgang Sobotka, the Greens are now asking the politician ÖVP to suspend the chairmanship of the inquiry commission. “He has to provide clarification,” the leader of the parliamentary group, Nina Tomaselli, said on Thursday. Until then, the second president, Doris Bures (SPÖ), must head the presidency. The FPÖ, SPÖ and Neos have been asking for this for a long time; the latter two also want to denounce Sobotka on suspicion of false testimony and recall him as a witness.
On Wednesday it became known that the “Alois Mock Institute” founded by Sobotka was supported by Novomatic with 109,000 euros. In addition to the previously known announcements worth € 14,000, the gambling group also charged high “cost reimbursements” for the club in the years 2013 to 2019. Furthermore, the group supported the “Waidhofner Kammerorchester” run by Sobotka and became charged at least one invoice to the NÖAAB, which he previously ran.
Soboka: Questions “answered honestly”
Therefore, Tomaselli asks Sobotka to clarify the contradictions with his previous statements in the investigation committee. In his questioning, the ÖVP politician had admitted that, in addition to the advertisements, Novomatic had also contributed a buffet and rooms for events. But: “For the rest, there was nothing that went to the Alois-Mock-Institut in any way as sponsorship or donation or in kind.”
Upon request, Sobotka’s spokesman emphasized Thursday that the sum mentioned in the committee also included the internal accounts of Novomatic events. The president does not need to know these amounts. He answered all questions about payments made to the Mock Institute “completely and truthfully.” Furthermore, only part of the total amount (around € 40,000) enters the investigation period.
For its part, the Alois Mock Institute of St. Pölten announced this Thursday that it had never received the claimed sum of 108,934 euros from Novomatic. It was a “deliberate mixing of intra-group invoices from Novomatic with advertising payments to the Alois Mock Institute,” he emphasized in a written statement. The amount of around 109,000 euros is based on an internal billing of “room rental, catering, technology, etc. from a Novomatic subsidiary to another group subsidiary”. This cannot be influenced by the simulated institute, nor should the cash flows be mixed with direct payments.
Perjury charge
Regardless of this, SPÖ and Neos are preparing a complaint for false testimony against Sobotka, as the leaders of the parliamentary group Kai Jan Krainer and Stephanie Krisper said. “If Sobotka were a skier, he would have ‘Novomatic’ on his chest. No matter where he appears, the Novomatic pays,” criticized the leader of the SP’s parliamentary group. Furthermore, the opposition parties want to re-invite Sobotka to the committee. The Green Tomaselli also advocates this: “The clean path would be if he were invited again as an information person and Doris Bures assumed the presidency by then.” Postscript: “If you can’t clear up the contradictions, then the president won’t be able to resolve them anymore.”
The SPÖ and Neos are also asking Chancellor Sebastian Kurz and Finance Minister Gernot Blümel (both ÖVP) to finally send the committee the calendar of their ministerial offices. Kurz’s claim that he no longer had the calendar was “unbelievable,” Krisper said. After all, the calendar contains “delicate appointments that, hopefully, he handles seriously” and a federal chancellor must know who he has met and when.
From the minutes of the conversation with Blümel presented to the committee on Wednesday, it appears that the former head of Novomatic, Harald Neumann, was interested in meeting with Kurz in 2018. Furthermore, the news evaluated by the prosecution confirms that Blümel was informed the following year the appointment of FP politician Peter Sidlo to the casino’s board of directors. Until now, the ÖVP had always claimed that it was not involved in any agreement between the FPÖ and Novomatic.
(WHAT)
