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fromFranziska Schwarz
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The allegations against still-Chancellor Sebastian Kurz are corruption and infidelity. What is said to have become known from chat logs throws a spotlight on him.
Vienna – Austria’s Chancellor Sebastian Kurz resigns because of a corruption affair (but does not want to give up his influence in politics). Kurz’s team is said to have secured its ascent through embellished surveys and bought positive media reports. During the investigation, the public prosecutor’s office also relies on chats that have become known.
Current media reports, for example the renowned Austrian newspaper, suggest that the tone of voice in these chats was harsh The standard in their online edition. First they had Salzburg news and the Small newspaper reported. The new details relate to messages between Kurz and Thomas Schmid, former Secretary General in the Ministry of Finance.
Brief confidante in chats: “These old idiots are so unbearable!”
The presumption of innocence applies to all of the above. But according to the investigations, Schmid is said to have played a “central role” in the survey affair in his former office, the report says. According to the prosecutor, the chats indicated a “long-term friendship” between the two.
The two poured out a lot of malice on the former ÖVP Vice Chancellor Reinhold Mitterlehner. In 2019 he published his book “Keeping”. Schmid is said to have chatted: “These old idiots are so unbearable! Nobody ever had to face a federal election and explain the nonsense of their predecessors! You did it all successfully and we were allowed to work. Mitterlehner is a left-wing dilettante and a huge oasch !! I hate him Bussi Thomas ”.
Kurz’s answer is said to have been: “Thank you, Thomas, it was great that Spindi left today. That surely bothers the ass the most … “
Corruption affair around Sebastian Kurz: Chats with the “family”
In the affair, the investigators rely on the seized cell phone of a brief confidante, according to dpa correspondent Matthias Röder. Again and again individual compromising messages reach the public, which show Kurz as “absolutely disloyal, condescending and above all interested in his advancement”. They are also the basis for the recent raid that triggered the government crisis in Austria. Last Wednesday, investigators in the Chancellery, in the ÖVP headquarters, in the Ministry of Finance and in a media company secured data carriers, servers, cell phones and laptops.
According to Röder, the public prosecutor may have already evaluated 100,000 of the restored 300,000 chats. Kurz’s ascent is closely linked to his small team of absolutely loyal confidants, he writes. The “family”, as they called themselves in the chats that emerged, consists of the circle that is now being investigated, as well as some other loyal followers.
Government crisis in Austria: Sebastian Kurz denies corruption allegations
“Kurz is considered to be someone who likes to be in control – and so, under his chancellorship, ‘message control’ was pre-empted in the cabinet. Members of the government hardly seemed allowed to break away from prepared scripts. But short is also someone who listens to advice and accepts it. The role of his team was all the more important for him, ”said Röder.
In 2017, Kurz won the power struggle against the far behind Mitterlehner and became Chancellor of a coalition of the ÖVP and the right-wing FPÖ. Even after that, the cooperation between the Chancellery and the media company concerned (which also denies the allegations) should have continued.
Kurz emphasized in his resignation speech on Saturday that the criminal allegations of infidelity and corruption were wrong. But he would no longer write some chats like that, he admitted. (frs with material from dpa)