After charges filed

Investigation against Christoph Thoma closed

Christoph Thoma was reported anonymously, but the investigation against him has now been dropped.

(Bild: Dietrich)

The Vorarlberg Economic Association director was accused in an anonymous complaint of having exerted pressure on a teacher - the public prosecutor's office did not see any criminally relevant facts.

The investigations against the Vorarlberg ÖVP member of parliament and Wirtschaftsbund director Christoph Thoma were closed. The investigations had revealed "that no criminally relevant facts had been realized", explained Heinz Rusch, spokesman for the Feldkirch public prosecutor's office, on Monday. In an anonymous complaint, Thoma was accused, among other things, of exerting pressure on a teacher when giving grades to one of his children.

According to the allegations, Thoma allegedly took massive action against a German teacher who had given one of his children a negative grade and also interfered in the content of lessons with various teachers. Thoma had always denied the allegations and suspected that the complaint was politically motivated. At the end of January, the state parliament lifted his immunity - also at Thoma's request - to enable investigations by the public prosecutor's office. These investigations were underway on suspicion of attempted abuse of official authority, serious coercion and dangerous threats.

"Protection of the family"
As a result, the ÖVP culture spokesman decided in February not to run again in the state elections in the fall. According to Thoma, the decision was a "direct consequence of the anonymous complaint" and the protection of his family had priority. He had not yet received the documents from the public prosecutor's office in writing, so he did not want to comment on them yet, Thoma said in an initial reaction on Monday afternoon.