Black-blue hiccup

Final in the U-committee with Teufel, but without Kickl

Alexis Pascuttini before his testimony in the sub-committee.

(Bild: APA/HELMUT FOHRINGER)

The committee of inquiry set up by the ÖVP on the "red-blue abuse of power" ends with the questioning days on Tuesday and Wednesday as it began: with refusals. The chairman of the Freedom Party, Herbert Kickl, for example, had already declined his second questioning with reference to a mountain hike. On Monday, Kickl's "fiduciary contract partner" Thomas Sila also canceled. All eyes will therefore be on former Graz Freedom Party member Alexis Pascuttini on the day of questioning on Tuesday. 

The story surrounding former Graz Freedom Party member Alexis Pascuttini is like a bruise that could still hurt the FPÖ. On Tuesday, the former Freedom Party member was summoned to the U Committee on red-blue abuse of power. The parties hoped that he would provide answers to the Styrian financial scandal, but above all to the question of what FPÖ federal party leader Herbert Kickl and state leader Mario Kunasek knew about it.

The Styrian financial scandal
But what is the blue financial crime story actually about? As reported, shortly after the FPÖ's election defeat in Graz in the 2021 municipal elections, it became known that money from the city's club funding had apparently been diverted on a grand scale. After the self-disclosure of the blue party's finance officer Matthias Eder, it became known that former deputy mayor Mario Eustacchio and the former club leader could also be involved. Both resigned. Both have since been under investigation. Eustacchio was succeeded as club chairman by Alexis Pascuttini. However, Pascuttini apparently took the "clean-up" in his own city party too seriously and excluded a local councillor against the wishes of Herbert Kickl and Mario Kunasek.

He also questioned Eder's theory of a single perpetrator and joined the proceedings with his own lawyer. The retaliation was not long in coming. In the fall of 2022, Pascuttini himself was kicked out of the party by Kickl and Kunasek. His planned book was to be entitled "Wenn alle Untreue begehen" (When everyone commits infidelity) and contain political "explosives". In the run-up to his appearance at the U Committee on Tuesday, there was an "Ibiza" at the sausage stand.

Transcripts of a tape that Pascuttini recorded during a chance meeting with Eder, which were made available to the "Krone", had already caused unrest - and nervousness in the blue environment. In a heavily inebriated state, as he himself informed his lawyer, Eder hinted at entanglements between Kickl and Kunasek. He later firmly retracted all the statements he had made that evening. For Pascuttini, they are nevertheless credible, as he explained in his opening statement. He had not believed the lone perpetrator theory from the outset and, according to his own statements, had originally "only wanted to put up a traffic mirror" in Graz and now found himself in criminal proceedings. 

Kickl's right hand is questioned
Reinhard Teufel, Kickl's former head of cabinet, has been summoned as a second witness. He is regarded as Kickl's right-hand man, is currently the club chairman of the Freedom Party in Lower Austria and is to explain his perceptions of Kickl's income 

Eva-Maria Holzleitner (SPÖ).

(Bild: APA/Tobias Steinmaurer)

In the run-up to the questioning, Eva-Maria Holzleitner, the popular women's leader and leader of the SPÖ parliamentary group in the U Committee, spoke of a plethora of "tricks" that Kickl had used as a supposed representative of the little man in order to organize an additional income to his parliamentary salary. In 2010, for example, Kickl had initially "forgotten" to report the full-time job as an employee of the FPÖ Vienna, which was also discussed by the ÖVP. According to documents available to the SPÖ, Kickl is also said to have received more than 8,300 euros per year as a salary from the blue Viennese city party between 2007 and 2017. All in all, according to the SPÖ, more than 1.3 million euros were paid. "In the end, there is not much left of the clean-cut image that Kickl likes to claim for himself," criticizes Holzleitner.

Higher penalties demanded
The other parties also commented on Kickl's refusal in the run-up to the first questioning. In order to prevent refusals like this in future, Meri Disoki, the leader of the Green parliamentary group on the U Committee, called for an increase in the penalties for refusing to appear. "Not appearing must also hurt financially," explained the Green. "I understand that Kickl doesn't want to appear. However, this makes him the coward of the nation and he deserves much more than he wants to admit," said ÖVP parliamentary group leader Andreas Hanger in the run-up to the hearing.

Christian Hafenecker (FPÖ, right) also listened to Andreas Hanger (ÖVP) during his statement.

(Bild: Frings)

Hafenecker: "None of this is possible"
For Christian Hafenecker, FPÖ parliamentary group leader in the U-Committee, "it's all no longer possible". Hanger is just jealous that he "earns nothing with his garden gnome trade". The U-Committee is a farce. For Hafenecker, it was also clear that Hanger was committing a breach of the law by questioning Pascuttini, as the Styrian financial scandal had nothing to do with the federal administration. Hafenecker also suggested that the ÖVP could pay Pascuttini's lawyer and announced legal action against Holzleitner and Hanger for violations of tax secrecy.

Immediately before the questioning, the trial judge also expressed doubts that Pascuttini could be asked questions that were covered by the subject matter of the investigation. Questioning witnesses on any topic would mean that committees could be conducted completely outside the scope of the investigation in future.

"Threats and attempts at intimidation"
During the questioning, Pascuttini then reported "threats and attempts at intimidation" against his person. The Freedom Party had tried to silence him. Among other things, one person had been offered 5000 euros for information about him. They had tried to scare him with highly personal matters.

Hafenecker asks about "ÖVP connections"
FPÖ parliamentary group leader Hafenecker wants to know from his former party colleague whether he colluded with the ÖVP in advance, for example when answering the questions. "No, there wasn't. You've got it all wrong," Pascuttini counters. Pascuttini explained that the KFG municipal council club was paying for his lawyers.