Once considered a political wunderkind, former Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz faces criminal charges and trial in October over alleged false statements regarding a corruption case against the government he led.
Kurz, who was elected in 2017 as leader of the Austrian Peoples’ Party (ÖVP) and made world headlines for becoming the youngest global leader at the time at just 31, faces up to three years in prison after being charged with giving a false statement regarding the appointment of Thomas Schmid to the state holding company ÖBAG in 2020.
According to a report from the Austrian newspaper Kronen Zeitung, the trial against Kurz in the Vienna Regional Court is expected to last for around three days starting on October 18th, with a verdict in the case expected on the 23rd.
Kurz had previously downplayed his own role in the appointment of Thomas Schmid and his role in the selection of the supervisory board of the holding company, but the Public Prosecutor’s Office for Economic Affairs and Corruption (WKStA) has filed a detailed 108-page document that claims chat messages from Kurz indicate he was not being fully truthful.
Schmid, a former close confidant of Kurz, had told Austrian prosecutors that Kurz was aware of embezzlements of public funds from 2016 to 2018, including use of public funds to buy advertisements in the newspaper Heute in exchange for positive articles about him and his government.
Kurz addressed the upcoming trial on X, formerly known as Twitter, stating on Friday, August 18th, “It is not surprising for us that the WKStA decided to file a criminal complaint despite 30 exculpatory testimonies,” and added, “The accusations are false and we look forward to the truth finally coming to light and the accusations proving to be unfounded in court.”
He went on to comment, “It is remarkable, however, that the media are once again informed about the status of the proceedings before those affected, and this is not entirely uncritical in terms of the rule of law.”
Two others are also being charged with making false statements, Bettina Glatz-Kremsner and Bernhard Bonelli. Bonelli is the former head of cabinet for Kurz and is alleged to have also given false statements in regard to the appointment of the supervisory board at ÖBAG.
The corruption scandal surrounding Kurz is credited as the catalyst for his resignation as chancellor in October of 2021 when allegations emerged that he used public funds to manipulate opinion polling in favour of the ÖVP.
Kurz’s first government, which saw the ÖVP ally with the populist Freedom Party (FPÖ), also ended in scandal when hidden camera footage recorded at a villa on the Spanish island of Ibiza claimed to show former FPÖ leader and Vice-Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache and MP Johann Gudenus engaging in talks of corrupt dealings with a woman they thought to be the niece of Russian oligarch Igor Makarov.
However, it later emerged that the entire event was a set-up and the woman was not who she had claimed to be. Despite this, Strache resigned as vice-chancellor shortly after the footage was published by Austrian and German media in 2019.
Some questioned the setup, as it had been recorded in 2017 and not released until 2019, just prior to the European Parliament elections. Strache later filed a criminal complaint against several people involved, including private investigator Julian Hessenthaler, who claimed in May of this year that an Iranian-born lawyer gave him €100,000 to set the trap for Strache.
In 2020, additional footage not shown previously was revealed that painted a different picture of the events that transpired, showing Strache directly refusing the corrupt offers of the fake oligarch woman. Gudenus also noted that in the new footage, “We are not doing anything illegal, period.”
Strache also commented on the newer footage and slammed the two German outlets that released the initial footage, the newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and the magazine Der Spiegel, for releasing only part of the footage initially.
“It shows very well how manipulative the video release was in May of the previous year. The new five minutes, like the rest of the video, will prove that I have repeatedly emphasised that I do not want to do anything illegal,” Strache said.
