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On the first day of questioning in the U Committee on Commercial Bank, important names were on the witness list, In terms of content, however, progress remained quite manageable. Martin Pucher, a central figure in the scandal, did not attend for health reasons.
So did the questioning of the former bank manager Franziska Klikovits ended with hardly any concrete answers. Klikovits argued at the beginning, that it has not been released from bank secrecy, so it cannot provide answers on issues related to banking, internal processes and the like. As a result, it was decided to interview them on another date, although part of the survey will not be open to the media.
It started when I was 19
Klikovits announced at the outset that it was not exempted from the confidentiality obligation for legal reasons. However, it emphasized that it would cooperate with the investigating authorities to the best of its knowledge and belief. In her opening statement, the former bank manager said that at the age of 19, as a counter clerk, she had been asked to ignore a statement.. He also made the momentous decision to participate in the cover-up until a balance was found for the financial delta that had emerged.
“I was living in my own world, I was really just on the bench,” Klikovits said. “I cannot put into words how sorry I am,” he lamented. I would give anything to undo what happened, “but unfortunately I can’t undo it anymore”. The only thing he could do was be at the disposal of the investigating authorities for any information and “reveal everything without rest”.
Testimony protocols
Procedural lawyer Michael Kasper noted that bank secrecy consists of balancing interests. Therefore, if a question cannot be answered it should be checked on a case-by-case basis.
Also trial judges Walter Pilgermair it was only conceivable to a small extent that bank secrecy could be invoked. In his opinion, there is also no risk of prosecution in those areas where Klikovits had already fully testified before the Economic and Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (WKStA).
Both the trial lawyer and the trial judge finally supported the proposal to question Klikovits again if, as offered by Klikovits, The files of all the declaration minutes that the former bank director had already made at the WKStA would be made available to Committee U. Chairman of the Committee Verena dunst (SPÖ) accepted the procedure and completed the survey.
Blümel: “Not responsible”
The questioning of finance ministers Gernot Blümel (ÖVP) in the commission of inquiry has also little new knowledge brought. The subject of the committee’s investigation relates to the Burgenland province and is not within its jurisdiction, Blümel emphasized. Nor were files from the Ministry of Finance handed over, especially because there were no documents related to the execution of state bodies.
In his opening statement to the U Committee, Blümel spoke of that his invitation to Eisenstadt “should be understood more as a conscious diversion and not as a serious contribution to educationbecause here the responsibility of the organs of the Burgenland province is examined “. The Ministry of Finance is not responsible for banking supervision, the Financial Market Authority (FMA) is an authority free of instructions.
No federal files
For this reason, federal bodies are not obliged to deliver files. Procedural judge Walter Pilgermair he asked anyway: “If we lack all this substrate, in the end it will be a very poor result of the evidence process. Without the files I will starve to my knowledge report“He emphasized. Blümel took note of this, but noted that, to the best of his knowledge, there were no corresponding files.
Regarding the FMA to Landeshauptmann Hans Peter Doskozil (SPÖ) submitted information on the imminent closure of the Commerzialbank on July 14, the financial attorney clarified that it was administrative assistance, especially since the State, as an association of auditors, was responsible for the supervision of the main shareholder of the Commerzialbank. “That should have been in the form of administrative assistance,” Blümel said. He himself was legally informed by the FMA on July 14 at around 3:30 p.m.
When asked about the public liability lawsuits that had been announced against the republic, Blümel emphasized that to date he was only aware of one lawsuit against the country that had been filed. A question about alleged gifts from the former head of the bank Martin Pucher The Minister of Finance did not respond to the auditors and representatives of the National Bank or to related violations of the official service law due to lack of jurisdiction.
Double critical role
Blümel referred to one several times in his answers. Working group made up of the Ministry of Finance, National Bank, FMA and independent expertsthat deals with analyzing supervisory work processes, considering additional tools and drawing the appropriate conclusions for the future. As a first intermediate result, he considers the dual role of the auditor to be fundamental.
The fact that the state had commissioned the TPA auditor to examine the cooperative as the owner of the bank, although it had already examined the bank, raised doubts. That is a weak point. “Something like this should not be possible in the future, the banks and cooperatives behind them should be controlled by different auditors,” emphasized Blümel.
He only answered numerous questions voluntarily or not at all due to a lack of reference to the object of the investigation or a lack of responsibility. The representatives of the parliamentary groups reacted in part annoyed; for example, the leader of the SPÖ parliamentary group, Roland Fürst, when asked to repeat his question: “That doesn’t make sense.”
Behind the scenes
However, in a confidential interrogation by the U Committee, two informants gave an idea of the processes at the bank. The survey was “very revealing”, highlighted the leader of the parliamentary group SPÖ Prince of roland in conection. She revealed “incredible rituals and cultures” as well as “antediluvian communication with brochures and without digitization.”
The statements of the two informants had confirmed their presumption that it was a criminal case in which federal supervisory bodies had failed, Fürst said. An informant had already emphasized in January that there was “imminent danger”, but nothing had happened. “You could have saved a lot of money and saved the injured party a lot of suffering,” Fürst said.
After the interviews, he was convinced that the bad conversations should have attracted attention. “The supervisory board was also one of the bank’s best clients.“said Fürst. On the management style of the former bank director Martin Pucher it was known that it was” non-existent. “Pucher was” very little present “in the bank, the relationship was distant.
Lawsuit against the country
This week it is at the Eisenstadt regional court the first lawsuit against the state of Burgenland was received in the course of negotiating the bankruptcy of Commerzialbank, reports the business magazine “Trend”. A bank client, represented by the Viennese law firm Brandl & Talos, claims almost 87,500 euros. The Burgenland state government has guiltily violated legal obligations in connection with the review of the cooperative, the owner of the bank, it is said. The state commissioned the audit firm TPA, although it was also the auditor of the Commerzialbank.
