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WKStA: Decision on Schmid’s leniency application

Will Thomas Schmid become a key witness for the WKStA?

(Bild: APA/Hans Punz)

The Economic and Corruption Prosecutor's Office (WKStA) has made a decision on the leniency application of Thomas Schmid, former member of the Executive Board of the state holding company ÖBAG. However, the decision is still secret. 

A WKStA spokesperson confirmed that a preliminary report had been sent "upwards" - i.e. to the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office - shortly before Easter. How the decision was made is not being communicated. The Chief Public Prosecutor's Office must now examine the project and forward it to the Ministry of Justice.

Schmid incriminated ÖVP grandees
The former Secretary General of the Ministry of Finance, Thomas Schmid, had made a comprehensive confession to the WKStA in several hearings, incriminating himself and prominent ÖVP representatives - including former Chancellor Sebastian Kurz - in several cases.

Decision also in the Casag case
In the Casag case, which has been under investigation since 2019, the WKStA also forwarded a preliminary report to the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office before Easter. The case surrounding the partly state-owned Casinos Austria AG (Casag) is about a suspected deal in the gambling sector within the Turkish-blue Kurz I government.

There is said to have been an ÖVP-FPÖ agreement to appoint Peter Sidlo, who is close to the Freedom Party, to the Casag board on a ticket from Casag co-owner Novomatic - although he is said to have been poorly qualified for the position. In return, the FPÖ is said to have signaled its willingness to make concessions regarding possible changes to the law on small-scale gambling after the Vienna elections.