New judicial adventure for the chancellor Sebastian Kurtz, suddenly in the crosshairs of a corruption investigation: he is suspected of having used public funds in the past to secure favorable media coverage.
“THE Sebastian Kurtz and nine other suspects, as well as three “organizations” are at the center of the investigation into various criminal acts in the context of this case, the corruption prosecutor’s office announced after a series of raids yesterday morning.
The raids took place at his premises Ministry of Finance, at the headquarters of the conservative ruler People’s Party (PVP), at the headquarters of the media and at the residences of several very close associates of the head of the Austrian government.
Between 2016 and 2018, “ministry resources were used to fund partially manipulated polls that served a purely partisan political interest,” according to prosecutors, who base the accusation on SMS in their possession.
At that time o Sebastian Kurtz he was not a chancellor, he still was Foreign Minister.
According to the prosecution, articles of praise and favorable polls were published for Mr. Kurts in exchange for the purchase of advertising space by Ministry of Finance, which was at the time in the hands of the Conservatives. The amount in question exceeds 1 million euros.
The newspaper that allegedly made the arrangement was named or photographed by other Austrian media: the λόsterreich tabloid. The newspaper issued an angry statement denying the allegations.
Mr. Kurts He is already facing an investigation into a false statement to a parliamentary committee in charge of corruption, but has not been charged so far.
“Made” categories
The 35-year-old chancellor, who participated in the EU summit in Slovenia yesterday, stressed in a statement sent to the French Agency that these are completely “fabricated” accusations.
“Some SMS snippets were detached from their context or distorted and a criminal case was set up around them. “I am convinced that these accusations will be dropped very soon,” he assured.
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