"No perception"

Brunner and Blümel are questioned about coronavirus aid

Former Finance Minister Blümel on Wednesday before the U-Committee

(Bild: APA/ROLAND SCHLAGER)

On the last regular days of questioning, the COFAG-U committee continues to focus on the Signa bankruptcy and its effects. Inconsistencies at the Corona Financing Agency will also be discussed. Finance Minister Magnus Brunner and his predecessor Gernot Blümel (both ÖVP) were questioned about this on Wednesday. You can read all the developments here in the krone.at live ticker.

• The Greens continued to focus on René Benko, who they describe as a "shell game player". Some strands of the tax scandal fall into the term of office of Minister Blümel, who often had no perception of possible interventions, for example.
• The FPÖ blames former Minister Blümel for the "failure story" of COFAG. He justified himself by saying that the pandemic had been extremely chaotic.
• During Blümel's questioning, there were several interruptions and verbal spats, which also caused laughter among the MPs.
• The SPÖ criticized the "built-in overfunding opportunities" at the Corona Funding Agency and insisted on structural changes to the financial administration.
• The NEOS continue to suspect post shenanigans at COFAG, but already want to focus on the espionage scandal and the next U-committee. The ÖVP also wants to focus on the Ott case.

Today is a real "Government Wednesday" in the Erwin Schrödinger room in Parliament: Finance Minister Magnus Brunner is invited first, followed by the questioning of his predecessor Gernot Blümel (both ÖVP) at 1 pm. He had initially canceled but has now agreed to appear again - sparing him a penalty for bending over. Vice-Chancellor Werner Kogler (Greens) will conclude the debate.

The focus remains on the question of whether billionaires and companies close to the ÖVP were given preferential treatment in the disbursement of aid funds. Other topics include suspected post pandering and the high salaries of COFAG managing directors. They received an inflation adjustment and are therefore receiving more this year than in previous years, even though there is no longer a pandemic and the vast majority of all applications have been processed. The winding up of the aid agency, which is to be dissolved by the end of the year, will start at the end of June anyway.

Flexion penalties applied for Wolf and Benko
Tyrolean real estate juggler René Benko was summoned again for Thursday, but again canceled for important reasons. How the parties will deal with the new refusal is still unclear. The Greens, but also the Social Democrats, had announced that they would have Benko presented in the event of another refusal. A legal dispute could be the result. If this ends in favor of the opposition parties, Benko could be brought before the U Committee in May under police escort.

So far, only an application for a penalty of bail has been filed against him, the decision on which has not yet been made by the competent Federal Administrative Court. An application has also been filed against investor Siegfried Wolf, who canceled his appearance on Thursday. 

After a flood of refusals - including from Signa manager and former Federal Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer - the number of interviewees on Thursday is otherwise scant. Only two respondents have announced their attendance: COFAG managing director Ulrich Zafoschnig and a senior official from the Ministry of Finance.