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Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner (ÖVP) announced this in the budget committee on Friday, according to parliamentary correspondence. Following the decision of the Vienna Higher Regional Court to suspend the proceedings, further legal measures are now being examined, Tanner confirmed.
Other parts of the process are still open
The attempt of the Republic of Austria to find the unloved Eurofighter Getting rid of it by legal means has failed. In addition to the suspended fraud proceedings against Airbus, investigations by the Economic and Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (WKStA) continue. It is about infidelity, money laundering and bribery in the acquisition and counter-trade of the aircraft.
As the WKStA explained in a press release, numerous suspects and witnesses have been questioned since the Vienna prosecutor took over the case in February 2019. 60 suspects are under investigation and an investigation team consisting of four prosecutors and one economist is on duty. How much longer is it open. Accounts were opened, 15 new requests for legal assistance were made, European investigation orders were issued and the special commission created in the Federal Criminal Police Office was hired. Since then, it alone has submitted 35 reports to the WKStA.
the Eurofighter– The main proceeding alone, mainly affecting the payment flows from the aircraft manufacturer EADS to Vector Aerospace (the company had transferred the compensation obligations to the mailbox company, supposedly to remove any control over the processing), was is conducting against 42 known suspects. Suspecting money laundering, (more) requests for legal assistance were continuously made to trace the payment flows of the Vector network and European investigation orders were issued. As the WKStA emphasized, the results depend largely on the responses of the requested states, but also on the resolution of complex legal issues.
When it comes to counterattacks, investigations are carried out for serious fraud attempts and bribery payments to counterparties. A detailed examination was carried out on hundreds of individual transactions with a filing volume of around € 4.9 billion. Upon completion of the prosecution, a total of five project reports have been submitted to the Vienna Public Prosecutor’s Office since April 2020. Investigations of one of the accused are still ongoing.
Another fact about the accusations of breach of trust and bribery concerns the payment streams at City Chambers. To this end, a project report was submitted a few weeks ago to the Vienna Public Prosecutor’s Office. In this context, a process of handover abroad of a defendant is being carried out.
Even from establishing fraud Eurofighter-Procurement is only affected by defendants who had submitted job applications. For the remaining 15, procedures have not yet been completed, and a project report was sent to the Vienna Prosecutor’s Office in late 2019.
There were also project reports for eight other environments, four of which have already been completed. For example, former FPÖ / BZÖ politician Elisabeth Kaufmann-Bruckberger, accused of having taken a check for 1.5 million euros from Vector and forwarded to a Swiss trust account, is no longer being investigated. “The procedure was suspended after approval because the check is a forgery,” added the WKStA.
