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The Economic and Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, WKStA, has also requested the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to deliver documents.
5.40 pm, February 26, 2021
the State Prosecutor Against Corruption he is now investigating the Blümel case directly in the relevant ministries. After the financing, the Foreign Ministry also confirmed a request in this regard on Friday. Documents on any support for Novomatic in Italy since 2017 are requested by requests for administrative assistance. The chancellor at the time was today’s chancellor. Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP). Finance Minister Gernot Blümel (ÖVP) meanwhile has completed the interrogation of the accused.
The Public Ministry of Economy and Corruption (WKStA) investigates the former Novomatic board Harald neumann and against Blümel for bribery and corruption in connection with a donation offer from the gambling company to ÖVP. It is checked whether the ministries run by ÖVP have helped Novomatic in exchange for tax problems in Italy. Neumann and Blümel reject the accusations. The ÖVP emphasizes that it has not received a donation from Novomatic.
Prosecutors demanded access to the Chancellery
As the Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed the APA on Friday, the WKStA has now requested all documents in relation to any support measure for Novomatic AG in Italy since 2017. “The Chancellery naturally complies with this request in its entirety,” he said in a transmission. However, “after extensive investigation in the archives”, it has already been established that “there was no assistance or support of any kind from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or its representative authorities in Italy for Novomatic AG in 2017”. The foreign minister at the time was today’s Chancellor Kurz.
Meanwhile, the WKStA has also made representations to the Ministry of Finance. As reported by the “Kurier”, documents on Novomatic’s tax debts in Italy are also being sought through a security warrant. The Ministry of Finance instructed the head of the financial prosecutor’s office Wolfgang Peschorn with the coordination of cooperation with the Public Ministry and the regulation of “delimitation issues” and the scope of the request. Peschorn is de facto the lawyer of the republic. Furthermore, the ministry declined to comment on the investigation on Friday. Contrary to what was reported Thursday, there was no direct follow-up by investigators at the federal computing center, as a spokeswoman for the federal IT company said on Friday.
Fateful tax claim
The investigations date back to 2017. Blümel was not yet in government, but as the leader of the Vienna regional party, he was a close confidant of the then-new ÖVP president and foreign minister Kurz. On July 10, Neumann asked Blümel for an appointment with the foreign minister to discuss a donation and support for a party “in relation to a problem we have in Italy.” The Novomatic was threatened with a tax refund in Italy worth millions. A little later, Blümel asked the Secretary General of the Ministry of Finance led by ÖVP, Thomas schmid to call back the Novomatic boss.
On February 11, the corruption prosecutor conducted a house search at Blümel in the case, a first for a practicing finance minister. The ÖVP then mounted violent attacks against the WKStA and tried to undermine the credibility of the investigators. On Friday, Blümel had to face an interrogation of the accused. He had tried to clear up the false accusations as quickly and completely as possible, Blümel said in a later broadcast.
The SPÖ once again condemned the most recent ÖVP attacks on the judiciary. “The SPÖ will not allow the orbanization of Austria,” Federal Director General Christian Deutsch said in a broadcast.
