Apparently, a tax audit took place at the Erwin Proell Foundation in 2017, which was recently brought to the attention by the statement of ex-BAG boss Thomas Schmid. This is apparent from research by the editors of ORF “ZiB2”. Schmid had reported to the prosecution an intervention by the chairman of the National Council, Wolfgang Sobotka (ÖVP), in connection with the procedure, which he vehemently rejects.
The “Dr. Erwin Proell Private Foundation” was dissolved in May 2017 and paid back 300,000 euros in grants and interest to the state of Lower Austria. The foundation, founded on the occasion of Proell’s 60th birthday, has previously come under criticism for no visible projects had been carried out with the funds.
ORF’s investigation showed that after the repayment of the 300,000 euros, the tax authorities were interested in whether the money was a grant or a donation, which makes a tax difference. According to the ORF, the responsible tax officials initially agreed that funding could not be provided because funding guidelines had not been followed.
Sudden change of opinion among officials
In August 2018, however, the responsible official changed his mind and, on the basis of the audit office’s report, suddenly set the 300,000 euros as a subsidy, although a corresponding report had been available at the ministry for almost a year.
Only capital gains tax paid
According to the ORF, the result was that afterwards only capital gains tax had to be paid. The chairman of the National Council, Sobotka, told a spokesperson that he had nothing to do with the case.
Source: Krone
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