The Public Prosecutor’s Office for Economic Affairs and Corruption (WKStA) has closed the investigation against Vorarlberg Governor Markus Wallner (ÖVP). The investigations – they concerned the charge of accepting an advantage – were launched a year ago based on a newspaper article Wallner had always dismissed the allegations as “blatant lies”.
The Background: On April 22, 2022, the “Vorarlberger Nachrichten” (“UN”) published an affidavit. In it, an unnamed manager claimed that Wallner would have promised goodwill in official affairs in case an advertisement was placed in the “Vorarlberger Wirtschaft” – the newspaper of the Vorarlberger Wirtschaftsbund. The Vorarlberger Wirtschaftsbund had made headlines days earlier, mainly because of the advertising activities of the “Vorarlberger Wirtschaft”.
Administrator could not be traced
Based on the newspaper article, which the authority judged to be an initial suspicion, the WKStA started an investigation into Wallner. However, the allegations were not substantiated. The WKStA has not succeeded in identifying the administrator named in the UN. The justification of the WKStA for the termination of the investigation states that on the one hand the “UN” referred to editorial confidentiality. On the other hand, a witness suspected of being that manager “credibly stated that he did not write the affidavit”. The interrogation of other witnesses, twelve persons are mentioned in the motivation, yielded nothing.
“Because of the investigations, there are no direct statements specifically accusing Governor Markus Wallner,” the WKStA said. Therefore, the procedure to benefit (Article 305 Sr) must be stopped “for factual reasons”. Wallner was never listed as a suspect and, according to him, was never questioned in the case. What he said from the beginning has now been confirmed, the governor said on Thursday.
Wallner under fire for affair
Wallner was under fire last summer because of the investigations against him and had to survive a vote of no confidence in the Vorarlberg state parliament. In the summer of 2022, he took two months of sick leave and resumed his official duties in early September. Even then he assumed that the proceedings against him would be stopped. The WKStA had already submitted a project report last December, but was then instructed to conduct further research. After these also did not yield any new findings, the investigation has now been stopped. The order to stop was received late Wednesday afternoon by Wallner’s legal representative.
In the course of the so-called Wirtschaftsbund affair, investigations were also launched against the two former directors of the Wirtschaftsbund, Walter Natter and Jürgen Kessler, as well as Vorarlberg’s Minister of Economics, Marco Tittler, and his predecessor Karlheinz Rüdisser (both ÖVP). Nothing is known about the end of these investigations.
Gamon: Still no clean slate
NEOS state spokeswoman Claudia Gamon said in a broadcast that the termination of the investigation against Wallner had in no way removed the “benevolence and favoritism between the ÖVP and the Economic Association”. The ÖVP of Vorarlberg as a whole has no reason to speak of a clean slate. Further research results are awaited.
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.
