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The Greens stay with that: Wolfgang Sobotka should go as chair of the Ibiza-U-Committee if he cannot clear up the contradictions surrounding his statement and the now-known Novomatic payments to the Mock Institute. Sobotka will be represented next week.
“A great contradiction” arose when the Ibiza Investigation Commission received this week new files from the Economic and Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (WKStA). Nina Tomaselli, leader of the Greens in the U Committee, chose drastic words on Friday morning in an interview with ORF radio Ö1 because of what the deputies had learned: Contrary to the original information from Wolfgang Sobotka (ÖVP), the Chairman of the National Council and therefore the Chairman of the U-Committee, the Novomatic gaming group, is said to have paid around 109,000 euros to the Alois Mock Institute of Lower Austria, of which Sobotka is the Chairman.
Tomaselli told Ö1 about the new items that had been released on Novomatic accounts to the Mock Institute: “There is just a difference. That needs to be clarified ”. He listened to Sobotka as an informant in the U Committee: At that time, he assured me that he had prepared thoroughly. He did not mention anything about these charges. “Wolfgang Sobotka has to answer our questions.”
Hope for bures
Sobotka’s role on the U-Committee had long been unusual, if not strange. The former interior minister is not only president there, he has also been an informant. Its proximity to the research topic repeatedly leads to lengthy discussions about the rules of procedure in the U Committee, which also means less time for interviews and more setbacks between groups. SPÖ and Neos, including the FPÖ, have been criticizing this for a long time. Now the Greens, partners in the ÖVP coalition in the federal government, are joining the chorus. His attitude had previously been: as long as Sobokta does not consider himself self-conscious, that must be accepted.
Now it is different. With the news of the Novomatic payments not only to the Mock Institute, but also to the Waidhofner Kammerorchester, whose main director is Sobotka, as well as the Lower Austrian Employees Union (NÖAAB), which was run by Sobotka until last year, Even for the Greens, the president of the National Council as head of the U Committee is no longer acceptable. At least not until he can clear up the contradictions, Tomaselli said. She said it would be interesting to see if Sobotka will appear next week as chair of the U Committee. She hoped that he would hand over the chair to his deputy, Doris Bures (SPÖ), until he was questioned again. Sobotka himself sent a message on Friday: He won’t come next week. For programming reasons. He allowed himself to be represented by the mandate of ÖVP Andreas Hanger, because Bures and the third president of the National Council, Norbert Hofer (FPÖ), were also prevented.
“Novomatic pays everyone” as a cornerstone
But why focus on the Novomatic and ultimately the ÖVP as well? Wasn’t Ibiza actually a FPÖ scandal? In the Ibiza video, then-FPÖ boss Heinz-Christian Strache also uttered the phrase “Novomatic pays everyone”. And he talked about the partnership structures that can be used to process party donations by going through the audit office. What followed was an intensive investigation of the associations affiliated with the party; Not surprisingly, the SPÖ and Neos, who created the Ibiza-U-Committee, called this “investigation committee on the alleged marketability of the turquoise blue federal government.”
Stephanie Krisper, leader of the Neos parliamentary group in the U-Committee, asked the question on Thursday night on the ORF news program “ZiB 2”: “What does Novomatic get as an international game of chance? A small association Alois Mock from Lower Austria commemorative of more than 100,000 Euros in recent years? “He noted that Novomatic probably wanted to influence the legislation in the gaming sector in their interests with payments to organizations.” Wolfgang Sobotka said in the investigation committee: Every service has something in return. I wonder: What was the counter-performance of the Novomatic? “In terms of clubs, the FPÖ probably wanted to learn from the ÖVP, said Krisper.
The Neos politician named a parliamentary question as an example of such an alleged action in the interest of the group, to which Hartwig Löger, as ÖVP Finance Minister, took over the writing of Novomatic. According to Krisper, Novomatic’s wishes included an online gaming license and a shift in gaming competitions from the state to the federal level.
When “ZiB 2” moderator Lou Lorenz-Dittlbacher asked if Sobotka was hindering the work of the U-Committee, Krisper answered with a resounding yes. He referred to this week’s committee meeting, in which Sobotka wanted to attend a secret meeting about one of his questions about gifts of money from Novomatic founder Johann Graf to people close to the ÖVP; in that case, the media would not have been able to interview the person who provided the information. In the end, Sobotka’s request was not admissible and the U Committee lost an hour of interview time during the debate; Krisper said that, as a result, the third respondent that day could not be questioned.
“Otherwise, there was nothing flowing”
The enthusiasm for Sobotka’s role stems from a recent submission of files by WKStA to the U-Committee. On Wednesday it became known that the “Alois Mock Institute” founded by Sobotka had been financed by Novomatic with about 109,000 euros. In addition to previously known advertisements in the club’s newspaper worth € 14,000, the gaming group also charged high “cost reimbursements” for the club in the years 2013 to 2019. In addition, the group had supported the Waidhofner Chamber Orchestra run by Sobotka and took care of at least one bill for the NÖAAB, which was run by Sobotka until last year.
In his questioning at the U-Committee in September, the ÖVP politician admitted that, in addition to the advertisements, Novomatic had also contributed buffets and event rooms. But: “Otherwise, there was nothing that went to the Alois Mock Institute in any way as a sponsorship or donation or as a contribution in kind.” SPÖ and Neos now plan to denounce the chairman of the committee, due to false statements in the U committee.
Internal billing instead of payments to the association
Sobotka’s spokesman said Thursday that the sum mentioned in the committee also includes Novomatic’s internal event accounts; Sobokta does not need to know these amounts. All the questions about the payments actually made to the Mock Institute were answered “completely and truthfully” in the U Committee. Furthermore, only part of the total amount (about 40,000 euros, note) goes into the study period.
The Alois Mock Institute in St. Pölten announced on Thursday that it had never received the claimed sum of € 108,934 from Novomatic. Instead, it is a “deliberate mix of Novomatic internal invoices with advertising payments to the Alois Mock Institute.” The amount of about 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 Mock Institute, nor should cash flows be mixed with direct payments.
>> to “ZiB 2” in the ORF “Tvthek”
>> to the “morning newspaper” Ö1
