The FPÖ is clearly opposed to the former ÖBAG boss and secretary general of the Ministry of Finance Thomas Schmid, who will be given leniency status in the Casag proceedings. “In my opinion, a key witness can only be someone you trust, who has been cleared and who wants to contribute to the clarification. But someone who has been fooling the U-committee for a year and a half and has negotiated with another authority does not have the confidence for me,” criticized the FPÖ faction leader in the ÖVP U committee Christian Hafenecker on Tuesday.
Hafenecker could not morally justify Schmid getting a reduced sentence or even going unpunished through negotiations or deals with the judiciary. “That doesn’t match my legal opinion.”
“Schmid was in the middle of the action”
According to him, the Treasury is a construction site and therefore it is not possible to go back to normal business. “We demand full clarification of the events,” Hafenecker made clear. The leniency, in his legal opinion, should only be reserved for someone less taxed and not like Schmid “was in the middle of the action”. In a bank robbery, the key witness could at most be the driver and not someone who was in the safe, he was trying to take a photo.
15 full day interrogations
Schmid approached the prosecution in April with a leniency request, the WKStA announced on Tuesday. According to the WKStA, no formal leniency application has been submitted to date. The WKStA stressed that a total of 15 full-day interrogations have taken place since June, during which Schmid was questioned “extensively”.
“Something doesn’t fit in the system”
Hafenecker criticized the fact that Schmid testified a total of 15 times at the WKStA while evading a statement in the investigative committee. “Schmid has been fooling the U-Committee for a year and a half. Something doesn’t fit in the system.” After all, an application has been made for an official demonstration in the U-committee. You might think that you are in an “operetta state” where the authorities do not communicate with each other.
Hafenecker wants to extend U-Commission
Hafenecker also called on NEOS to agree to an extension of the ÖVP-U committee beyond December. After all, there is still plenty of political responsibility that needs to be addressed, he said. NEOS faction leader Stephanie Krisper had rejected an extension nearly two weeks ago. No one understands “why the NEOS are reluctant to end the educational work,” said Hafenecker, who suspected a “package” of the pink with the ÖVP as the backdrop.
Leniency notice with obstacles for Schmid
Back to Schmid: Should the former ÖBAG boss also formally apply for leniency status in the Casag procedure, this is far from certain. A key witness is a person who has committed a crime and voluntarily makes an important contribution to the investigation. Recently, pollster Sabine Beinschab was granted leniency in the ÖVP affair.
In return, the public prosecutor can, if certain conditions are met, drop the preliminary investigation subject to prosecution. But there is no right to this. The leniency program was introduced in Austria in 2011 and only extended for seven years in 2021. Leniency witnesses can be granted for corruption and white-collar crime, as well as for offenses punishable by more than five years. The most important criterion is voluntariness.
The person must contribute to the investigation before being questioned
In the Code of Criminal Procedure, the leniency program is regulated in paragraph 209a: According to this law, an offender has the right to demand application of the program if he “voluntarily approaches the public prosecutor or the criminal investigation department, makes a remorseful confession about his contribution to the crime and his knowledge of new facts or revealing evidence, the knowledge of which contributes significantly to advancing the comprehensive investigation (….) beyond his own contribution to the crime (…)”. suspect should have been interrogated and no coercive measures should have been taken against him.
Status last approved for pollster Beinschab
In the case of Beinschab, leniency was nevertheless granted – although the voluntary nature of her confession was limited by her arrest. This can be the case, for example, if completely new facts or evidence come to light during an interrogation. It is not known to the public whether this is also the case in the Schmid case. According to a corresponding report from the WKStA, it will only be established in April that he expressed his wish to become a crown witness. According to the authority, there is no corresponding application.
Source: Krone
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