With the cancellation of the conviction in the PRIKRAF case – krone.at reported – by the higher regional court, ex-FPÖ leader Heinz-Christian Strache has taken a stage win. Of course he is not acquitted, the case has to be renegotiated in the criminal court. The acquittal “when in doubt” in the second bribery case against Strache is not yet legally binding. The decision on the Causa Asfinag has not yet been made in writing, the public prosecutor has appealed.
In the Asfinag case, Strache and Siegfried Stieglitz were acquitted on July 29 “in case of doubt” of the charge that Strache had given the co-defendant businessman a commissionership at Asfinag for donations to an association close to the FPÖ. From the point of view of the court of first instance, it was insufficiently proven for a conviction that Strache was aware of the entrepreneur’s donation.
WKStA has filed an appeal
The Economic and Corruption Public Prosecution Service (WKStA) has lodged an appeal. It must do so in writing (within four weeks) as soon as the written copy of the decision is available. The accused “answers” in an appeal procedure, after which the file is submitted to the competent Higher Regional Court of Vienna. It is expected there in the fall.
The Higher Regional Court confirmed on Tuesday that the Prikraf judgment has been revoked. This first criminal procedure following the Ibiza video ended in August 2021 with a suspended sentence (15 months for Strache and twelve for the co-defendant owner of the Währing private clinic, Walter Grubmüller).
The WKStA had accused them of buying the law related to the Wiener Privatklinik Währing. Because Grubmüller had donated a total of 12,000 euros to an association close to the FPÖ in 2016 and 2017 – and when the FPÖ then came into government, a change in the law in 2018 included the currency of the private clinic in the financing fund for private hospitals (PRIKRAF ).
First judge saw ‘Connex given without a doubt’
From the point of view of the first judge – as she said when the verdict was handed down on August 27, 2021 – “the connection, the connection was beyond doubt, really beyond doubt”. However, the Higher Regional Court considered the grounds for the conviction to be insufficient. The court did not consider all the evidence sufficient to conclude that the amendment was proposed solely because of the donations. Now the charge must be negotiated and decided in a new hearing at the Vienna Criminal Court.
Source: Krone
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