COFAG was founded for Corona aid: billions have flowed. But not everything was accurate and transparent.
The Federal Covid-19 Financing Agency GmbH, COFAG for short, is what it sounds like. Powerful and opaque. The Court has nevertheless examined this “black box”. And dramatic grievances were found: potential for over-funding up to 117 million from 2020-June 2021, advisory fees of 21 million, conflicts of interest, etc. The RH recommended the dissolution.
This week the difficult to digest COFAG is on the menu in the committee of inquiry. The fundamental question: why was this billion-dollar vehicle necessary at all? That is what NEOS and Jan Krainer of the SPÖ wonder: “There was outsourcing to external service providers, while there is expertise and capacity in the administration.”
Director of Blümel’s cabinet
COFAG was founded in March 2020 by then Minister of Finance Gernot Blümel. One general director was Bernhard Perner of Blümel’s cabinet. At the same time, he was also the managing director of the parent company ABBAG (Abbaumanagement-GesmbH). Received two colossal salaries (a total of 455,000 euros for 2020). The Court was generally critical of the establishment and staffing of management and control bodies. Perner will start the committee this Wednesday. The chairman of the supervisory board of ABBAG follows.
While the opposition and the Greens see Nina Tomaselli COFAG as an opaque and not very accurate “self-service shop”, ÖVP party leader Andreas Hanger points to the need to act quickly when the pandemic broke out: 1.3 million cases processed – 17 billion paid out. “We got important, unbureaucratic help off the ground in a very short time.” From today’s perspective you could say that mistakes have also been made.
There’s still a lot of work to do
The topic (in the context of Corona) could also be the subject of a new University committee. At least that’s what the opposition says. It sounds like a lot of work.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
