"Sushi-Gate"

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New turmoil in Klagenfurt town hall.

(Bild: Rojsek-Wiedergut Uta)

The case surrounding Klagenfurt's former municipal director Peter Jost has not even been settled yet, but there is already new turmoil in the town hall surrounding the future municipal director Jürgen Dumpelnik. And once again, Deputy Mayor Philipp Liesnig is caught in the crossfire.

It is not the objectification process of the Blue Danube Search that is said to have been the decisive factor in Jürgen Dumpelnik becoming the new municipal director in Klagenfurt. Rather, it was a sushi lunch between Klagenfurt's Deputy Mayor Philipp Liesnig (SP) and FP politician Gernot Darmann. At least the Greens, Team Kärnten and the ÖVP are convinced of this. And they are making serious accusations.

Red-blue deal after several offers
"At the lunch, it was agreed that the SPÖ would be allowed to appoint the municipal director and the Freedom Party would receive the finance director and two other department heads in return," says TK club chairman Patrick Jonke, whose party is said to have received a similar offer from Liesnig. 

The Klagenfurt finance officer operates a completely separate system.

Olga Voglauer, Kärntner Grünen-Chefin

However, Liesnig is said to have made an offer not only to Team Kärnten. The Klagenfurt ÖVP is also said to have received a similar offer. "When we turned it down, the working group collapsed a few days later," said VP party chairman Julian Geier at a hastily convened press conference between the Greens, Team Kärnten and the ÖVP.

Major discrepancies even before selection
But it is not only the alleged deals on offer that are driving Geier, Voglauer and Jonke up the wall. Even during the selection of the agency responsible for the objectification of the municipal director, Liesnig is said to have intervened vehemently. "We said from the outset that Blue Danube Search could not provide enough transparency," explains Olga Voglauer, Chairwoman of the Carinthian Green Party. And yet the Klagenfurt finance officer insisted on it, as the agency was the cheapest. "But in the end it wasn't like that. The offer of 10,000 euros turned into 24,000 euros in the end," says Geier, who is calling for an end to backroom deals.

Liesnig and Dumpelnik were once business partners.

(Bild: Christian Tragner)

And when Jürgen Dumpelnik, Liesnig's former business partner, was also to become municipal director, Team Kärnten, the Greens and the ÖVP finally broke the camel's back. "We are therefore calling for the post to be re-advertised," emphasized Geier together with Olga Voglauer. Team Kärnten does not want to take this step yet, but has decided in the club not to approve Dumpelnik's appointment at the next municipal council meeting.

"This is absolute nonsense"
The "Krone" confronted Klagenfurt's deputy mayor with the accusations. "This is absolute nonsense and triple incompetence in one heap," countered Liesnig, who is considering legal action against all three political rivals.

Either way, the chaos in the provincial capital is unlikely to end quickly with the new allegations and "Sushi-Gate" ...