The trial at the Regional Criminal Court in Vienna regarding Telekom Austria’s so-called ‘liquidity reserves’ – i.e. illegal funds – developed faster than expected. On Thursday, former lobbyist Peter Hochegger was found guilty of tax evasion; the verdict is not yet final.
The trial surrounding Telekom Austria’s illegal funds at the Regional Criminal Court in Vienna came to an end faster than expected. The evidentiary proceedings against former Telekom Austria board member Rudolf Fischer and ex-lobbyist Peter Hochegger for tax evasion were completed on Thursday afternoon.
Former lobbyist Hochegger was found guilty of tax evasion. Ex-board member of Telekom Austria Fischer was acquitted. The verdict is not yet final.
Fine of one million euros
A jury sentenced the now 75-year-old former lobbyist Hochegger to a fine of one million euros or – in the event of bad debt – to ten months in prison.
However, the co-suspect, former Telekom-Austria board member Rudolf Fischer, was fully acquitted. The court followed the argument of Fischer’s lawyer Otto Dietrich that the suspicious events did not fall under his area of responsibility, but under the responsibility of the CFO.
“We cannot clarify the extent to which you were involved in the individual business areas covered by the indictment,” said chairman Mark Tuttinger. From a “real-life perspective,” it can be assumed that “you didn’t have the time or expertise to look at the tax balance,” Tuttinger Fischer agreed. As Telekom manager, he was responsible for technology and operations and the fixed network division.
The charges relate to events that occurred fifteen to twenty years ago. At the time, Telekom Austria held millions of euros in unaccounted funds and forwarded them to Hochegger’s company Valora.
According to Hochegger, he received one million euros annually from 2005 to 2008. These funds were used for illegal party financing – such as a donation of 960,000 euros for a BZÖ election campaign – and extracurricular payments in the interest of Telekom. The concealment involved the use of fictitious invoices from Valora for services not provided.
The total damage amounts to 2.46 million euros
The Public Prosecution Service accuses Fischer and Hochegger of being responsible for posting these false invoices. Illegal input tax deductions and operating costs are said to have resulted in a deliberate reduction in sales, corporate and capital gains taxes of more than 2.46 million euros.
While Fischer pleaded “not guilty” at the start of the trial, Hochegger largely confessed. He partially exonerated Fischer by saying that his contacts included Telekom Austria’s former controlling boss Gernot Schieszler and two board members who have since died.
“I wasn’t aware of the problem”
“I may have signed the tax returns,” Hochegger admitted on the first day of the trial. At the time, he was essentially “oblivious to the problem.” At the time, Valora was a kind of ‘office’ of Telekom Austria and ‘prepared quotations and wrote invoices on request’.
He described the concealment system with the million he received annually for it “in orders, and then you will receive a message about the year and I carried out the processing at the request of Telekom.” However, his contacts were the then controlling boss of Telekom Austria and two former board members who have since died, and not Fischer.
The decisions of the Senate are not legally binding. After consultation with his lawyer Leonhard Kregcjk, Hochegger asked for time to think about it; Public prosecutor Bernhard Löw made no statement for the time being.
Source: Krone
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