U-Committee

Kickl in a multi-front battle next week

FPÖ leader suddenly has several construction sites

(Bild: APA/Tobias Steinmaurer)

For FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl, things could get uncomfortable next Tuesday in the U-Committee. He has to fight on several fronts at once: there is the affair about Russian spies with good contacts to the Freedom Party, the old story with the think tank agency and now also investigations into advertising corruption in the turquoise-blue government. 

Former FPÖ leader and Vice-Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache as well as former blue ministers Norbert Hofer, Mario Kunasek, Beate Hartinger-Klein and Kickl himself are being investigated for bribery, corruption and embezzlement. Specifically, the Austrian media group is said to have reported in the interests of the FPÖ and received a particularly large number of advertisements in return. The presumption of innocence applies to all those named!

"Noticeable favoritism"?
In a media analysis commissioned by the corruption prosecutor's office in the course of the preliminary investigations, this suspicion is growing stronger. Although a weekly evaluation of advertisements is recommended for a final assessment, the quarterly evaluation already shows a "noticeable preference for the Austrian media group" with over 50 percent, according to the analysis available to the "Krone". 

Kickl's potpourri of topics

- During Kickl's time in office as Interior Minister, there is said tohave been a cell ofRussian spies in the Office for the Protection of the Constitution,which is said to have maintained active contacts with FPÖ politicians.
- Surprising investigations under pressure from the Vienna Chief Public Prosecutor's Office against former blue ministers for advertising corruption.
- A trust agreement suggests that, contrary to claims, Kickl may have been involved in the advertising agency Ideenschmiede and may have earned some money from it.
- In the Graz FPÖ, money from the city's club funding is alleged to have been diverted on a large scale and used for personal enrichment.

Kickl will probably refrain from testifying in this case because he is a defendant. But there is a wide range of topics, says ÖVP parliamentary group leader Andreas Hanger. The full four hours of questioning are available for Kickl, whereby only the time spent asking questions counts. In total, the whole thing will take many hours, if not the whole day.

Neos, SPÖ and ÖVP in particular see a need for clarification in the Ideenschmiede case, which was actually settled in court years ago and ended with a guilty verdict for the former Carinthian FPÖ and BZÖ politician Uwe Scheuch. Hanger suspects that Kickl personally enriched himself with the think tank. During his first interrogation in the U Committee, he testified under an obligation to tell the truth that he had not earned a cent from it. Kickl's tax file, which is now available to the committee, should provide clarity. 

Wide range of topics
The thriller surrounding the suspected Russian spy Egisto Ott could be exciting once again. The latter is said to have been in close contact with former Kickl confidant Hans-Jörg Jenewein. "Kickl is now acting as if he didn't know Jenewein. That is totally implausible," says Hanger. The ÖVP also wants to address the financial scandal surrounding the Graz FPÖ. However, it is questionable whether so many issues can really be pushed through.