Blümel, Pierer, Wolf

After Gusenbauer: even more refusals for the U-committee

Former ÖVP Finance Minister Gernot Blümel is also not interested in the COFAG-U committee.

(Bild: APA/Roland Schlager)

After the sub-committee on the "red-blue abuse of power", the sub-committee on COFAG is now also suffering from a lack of witnesses. According to a summons list, eight of 13 people have canceled for the last two regular committee days on April 24 and 25, including ex-SPÖ Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer, former ÖVP Finance Minister Gernot Blümel and entrepreneurs Stefan Pierer and Siegfried Wolf.

One of only two people who have definitely accepted is Vice-Chancellor Werner Kogler (Greens). He can be interviewed on Wednesday afternoon. The second promise comes from a top official from the Ministry of Finance. He will be available to answer questions from MPs on Thursday.

NEOS have invited Brunner
Finance Minister Magnus Brunner (ÖVP), whom the NEOS want to invite on Thursday, is not yet on the list of invitees. A motion to this effect was passed at a Rules of Procedure meeting on Wednesday, so there has been no response from Brunner as yet.

Finance Minister Magnus Brunner (ÖVP)

(Bild: APA/ROLAND SCHLAGER)

Is Rene Benko coming?
Three other possible interviewees have also not yet been confirmed or rejected. Among them is Rene Benko, who was supposed to testify in March but was unable to do so. He had subsequently promised to appear before the subcommittee at the beginning of April, but ultimately canceled at short notice.

"An appearance before the committee is unreasonable"
His lawyer justified this in a letter with the media "(sensational) reporting with (almost) daily new allegations", which made it impossible to get an overview of the allegations. It is therefore unclear to what extent the Signa founder is entitled to refuse to testify. An appearance before the committee would be "unreasonable", as there would be a "massive violation of the rights of the accused". Against this background, it seems unlikely that Benko will appear as planned next Wednesday.

Rene Benko

(Bild: APA/HANS KLAUS TECHT)

3000 euro fine
One respondent from the sub-committee on the "red-blue abuse of power" who did not appear has already been fined 3000 euros. This committee had suffered from a flood of refusals, especially at the beginning; one day of the meeting took place without any questioning. This is now the case towards the end of the COFAG committee initiated by the SPÖ and FPÖ - next Wednesday and Thursday are the last dates on which people can be regularly summoned.

Former ÖVP Finance Minister Gernot Blümel has also given up on the COFAG-U committee.

(Bild: APA/Roland Schlager)

The SPÖ said that Wolf and Blümel had not given sufficient reasons for their refusal. They - as well as Benko - are to receive a summons for the coming week. Persons can only be summoned to appear before the U-Committee on May 22nd by an official summons.

FPÖ wants to summon even more people from the ÖVP environment
Meanwhile, the SPÖ and FPÖ submitted an application to the Constitutional Court (VfGH) on Thursday. In this way, they want to obtain Wolf's tax files, which the Ministry of Finance has so far refused to hand over - according to the application, the argument is that an external audit has not yet been completed. The Greens have requested further files relating to Benko and the Signa Group. The FPÖ is considering summoning people from the ÖVP environment as part of both committees of inquiry, according to a spokesperson. They would be questioned about funding received from COFAG.