Causa Wien Energie – Municipal Councilor of Finance questioned as a witness in the U-Commission

Peter Hanke (SPÖ), councilor of Finance, was on Thursday for the first time a political representative on the witness stand of the U-Commission on the Wien Energie case. Surprisingly, some evidence, such as agenda items, were also delivered from his office the night before – which has happened rather sparsely so far, which was again criticized by the presiding judges. Chats or emails were not included this time either. The city council motivates it this way: “We have requested the telephone lists. However, there are no more records from this period. And emails are trade secrets.”

New details about the award
Central to the investigation were of course the backgrounds, which eventually culminated in the two emergency powers of 700 million euros each. Hanke: “My primary goal was security of supply.” The means of emergency power would also have been suggested by Wiener Stadtwerke itself. Why was there no open communication after the first payment? Hanke: “All decisions were based on the circumstances at the time and we didn’t want any further uncertainty in the market. In hindsight, the crisis communication could have been better.”

The city’s budget was exhausted
There were also insights into the financial strength of the city. Because with the two emergency powers of 1.4 billion euros, the city’s liquid assets were almost completely used up at the time, much more could not have been done – and in the end was not necessary. Borrowing was even a good deal for the city. Interest income was in six figures.