With Margarete Schramböck and Elisabeth Köstinger, two turquoise ex-ministers will come to the ÖVP’s corruption inquiry commission in the coming week. Both are expected to answer questions from MPs about commissioning surveys, surveys and advertisements as well as about filling posts during the survey period and have promised to attend. However, the second day of the investigation is interrupted by the special session of the National Council.
The National Council will meet unscheduled on Thursday over the anti-inflation package. The coalition parties want to decide in June on large parts of the announced aid package. The session starts at 12:00, after which the U-Committee takes a break. Once the plenum is over, it continues with the second interviewee.
Former Agriculture Minister Köstinger will be the first guest in the parliamentary investigative body on Thursday. She will be questioned by the deputies on all four evidence topics, i.e. influencing award and funding processes, influencing federal holding companies, influencing investigations or promoting personnel selection. After her comes Gernot Maier, Secretary General of the Ministry of Agriculture.
Two ministers of the Turkish era
Schramböck, another former minister of the Turquoise era under ex-chancellor Sebastian Kurz, had already been invited to the U-Committee on Wednesday. She is also questioned about all four pieces of evidence. The focus of the MPs will be on a ‘model process’ that pollster and former Minister of Family Affairs Sophie Karmasin conducted for the Ministry of Economic Affairs in 2019 and 2020.
Two year process
As the weekly magazine “Falter” reported, the “Mission Statement” project cost 125,920 euros in tax money, but the output was only one DIN A4 page. What the Ministry rejected: The Guiding Principles process took more than two years, the lengthy version being 32 pages. A total of 20 interviews and an online survey were conducted and evaluated with approximately 700 employees. Meanwhile, the prosecutor’s office for economic and corruption cases is investigating a first suspicion after a complaint.
On Wednesday, in addition to Schramböck, two of her former employees of the Ministry of Economic Affairs will be questioned, namely Secretary General Michael Esterl and Deputy Cabinet Secretary Paul Rockenbauer.
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.
