On Tuesday it was announced that ex-ÖBAG board member Thomas Schmid had approached the Economic and Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (WKStA) in the case of politically motivated positions at Casinos Austria with a view to potentially obtaining leniency status. Almost simultaneously, raids were made on two business locations – according to information from the “Kronen Zeitung” including René Benko’s Signa Holding. What’s behind it?
The searches are based in particular on the results of the 15-day interrogation of Schmid by the WKStA. These would remove suspicions of bribery, venality and abuse of official power, it is said. The corruption hunters report that two suspects are being investigated in this special CASAG case.
Management item for the lowest possible tax payment
For example, in the period 2016 to 2018, an “Austrian entrepreneur” (Benko) offered the then Secretary-General of Finance (Schmid) a benefit for his partisan support in his group’s tax audit procedures, namely a well-paid executive position in this group, so that there was no or the lowest possible tax bill…
Say: High-paid mail against favors at the Treasury (the presumption of innocence applies). We are talking about a job worth 300,000 euros.
In addition, three suspects are being investigated for allegations of infidelity. The subject of these investigations is the suspicion that Schmid, in his position as Secretary General and another responsible of the Ministry of Finance, used budgetary resources in 2017 to fund “party politically motivated consultancy costs” of a consultancy in preparation for the upcoming coalition negotiations. “in the interest of a political party”.
In other words: advisor for partisan purposes with money from the Ministry of Finance (the presumption of innocence applies). That year saw the formation of the turquoise-blue government…
Follow-up with entrepreneur Spiegelfeld
Entrepreneur Gabriela Spiegelfeld confirmed a voluntary check in her real estate agency on Tuesday. The whole thing took 45 minutes, she said. Her husband has been able to demonstrate by means of correspondence that he has never had anything to do with an expert opinion about a building on the Tuchlauben in Vienna. According to Spiegelfeld, this report was the reason for the review.
Investigations against more than 40 suspects
According to the WKStA, in the so-called CASAG complex of proceedings, a total of about 45 suspects – on the one hand individuals, on the other associations – are being investigated on suspicion of infidelity, false testimony, corruption, bribery and abuse of official authority and violation of professional secrecy.
In this process, in which Schmid is also listed as a suspect, all lines of investigation that have emerged from the Ibiza video are summarized. These are, for example, the casino investigations or the investigations into the so-called leg scraping tool.
The tool’s namesake, Sabine Beinschab, recently caused a stir as she herself had been granted leniency status. Should Schmid now also benefit from this arrangement, his statements must certainly yield explosives.
Source: Krone
I’m an experienced news author and editor based in New York City. I specialize in covering healthcare news stories for Today Times Live, helping to keep readers informed on the latest developments related to the industry. I have a deep understanding of medical topics, including emerging treatments and drugs, the changing laws that regulate healthcare providers, and other matters that affect public health.
