The Agency for European Integration and Economic Development (AEI), accused of misusing EU funding, has filed for bankruptcy. It was not until the end of July that the association’s activities led to raids on the Ministries of the Interior and Finance. Bankruptcy proceedings have now been opened at the Vienna Commercial Court, the Alpine Creditors’ Association (AKV) reported on Wednesday.
Several dozen officials from the Ministry of Finance and 15 employees of the Interior had reported an alleged side job to the service, which was mainly associated with the FPÖ. Malta’s tax authorities had informed Austrian colleagues about trust companies in favor of the AEI boss’s family. He was himself registered as a trustee. After further analysis of the AEI’s “account consolidation”, it was suspected that EU money was being transferred to Malta.
After the raids on the ministries of the Interior and Finance – krone.at reported – the group was deprived of authority for its very main purpose of so-called twinning. The key point here is that an EU state trains an accession candidate in reforms.
Total assets in the tens of millions
These orders are awarded by the European Commission. AEI’s balance sheet totals increased from EUR 580,000 to EUR 15.5 million between 2017 and 2019. This growth is currently the subject of research. The investigation is directed against senior officials of the agency. The AEI boss and her project partner at the Federal Criminal Police Office and another person are accused of infidelity.
The argument that it should be an agency close to the FPÖ is based on the fact that liberal officials and violent members of the fraternity sit on the supervisory board. However, the director was also spokeswoman for former ÖVP Secretary of State Alfred Finz. He also held positions at the AEI, most recently on the Advisory Board.
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.
