Poll affair

Investigations against SPÖ politicians closed

Laura Rudas, Norbert Darabos, Josef Ostermayer and Co. are no longer listed as suspects in the Umfage affair.

The Public Prosecutor's Office for Economic Affairs and Corruption discontinued the proceedings and investigations against prominent SPÖ politicians just in time for the ÖVP's request for a sub-committee on possible corruption in the SPÖ and FPÖ. Following anonymous complaints, the public prosecutors had investigated whether, for example, SPÖ federal managing directors had financed surveys in daily newspapers such as "Österreich" and "Heute" with public funds from ministries in earlier years - similar to what was later blamed on the ÖVP - and had these commissioned and manipulated by the then opinion researcher Sophie Karmasin.

Norbert Darabos, Laura Rudas, Josef Ostermayer and less prominent SPÖ members were named as suspects in the investigations.

Funds came from the party
In the reasons for discontinuation available to the "Krone", it is stated that possible criminal offenses from 2009 onwards were time-barred in this context. Nevertheless, the suspicious facts were investigated. The WKStA issued a clean bill of health to all suspects: There was neither evidence nor statements that could prove that money from ministries or, as alleged, from the SPÖ-led Federal Chancellery had been used for survey funding. Instead, the party or party-affiliated institutions such as the Renner Institute had probably paid for or co-financed all the surveys, and almost all of the SPÖ politicians reported had not held any government positions during the relevant period.

"Different from the Beinschab tool"
Key sentence from the public prosecutor's office: "Unlike the Beinschab 'Austria' tool, there are no sufficient indications that the studies/surveys were paid for from public funds and no sufficient indications of criminal links with advertisements from public bodies."

Lawyer Johannes Zink, who represents several of the suspects: "The WKStA made it clear in detail in its reasons for discontinuation that no public funds were used for the purpose of the party." An unintentionally humorous sentence from the reasoning: "The manipulation of survey results and an agreement between a political party and the media in this regard is not punishable by law."