ÖVP scandal rumored

Another slap in the face for the WKStA: raid was illegal

The orders of the ministries of Klaudia Tanner and former minister Elisabeth Köstinger were the focus of the WKStA.

(Bild: Starpix/ Alexander TUMA)

The corruption hunters at the Economic and Corruption Prosecutor's Office (WKStA) sensed a second ÖVP survey scandal last year. However, a house search at the Demox survey institute was "unlawful" according to the Higher Regional Court.

Again it was about surveys. Once again, the ÖVP was in the spotlight. Three ÖVP ministries (Agriculture, Defence, Economy and Digitalization) were suspected by the SPÖ parliamentary group leader Jan Krainer in the U Committee of having commissioned surveys in 2020 and 2021 that were also used by the ÖVP as party questions. The WKStA sensed a second survey scandal along the lines of the one already known from the Ministry of Finance and jumped on the case.

House search "inadmissible at random"
The investigation was quickly launched after Krainer had also filed a complaint. Apparently too hastily, as the latest developments in the case show. But more on that later.

In the summer of the previous year, the preliminary climax: the WKStA initiated a search at the Demox survey institute, where a certain Franz Sommer sat on the board of trustees until 2022. He is considered the ÖVP's house and court poll specialist.

Ilse-Maria Vrabl-Sanda, head of the elite WKStA unit, must take responsibility for legal errors.

(Bild: APA/ROLAND SCHLAGER)

The polling institute felt it was in the wrong and feared for its reputation. Demox boss Paul Unterhuber lodged an appeal with the Higher Regional Court and was proved right, as the "Krone" learned.

According to the Higher Regional Court, the house search was unlawful. "Since the facts underlying the orders in question (...) did not provide any specific indications that could have led to the assumption that a criminal offense had been committed, no judicial authorization should have been granted in view of the WKStA's requests [...]."

Translated, this means that the accusations made by the corruption hunters have no basis whatsoever.

But that's not all. There was also a rather embarrassing scolding for the WKStA. The Higher Regional Court instructed the corruption hunters that a house search may only be carried out if there is "reasonable probability based on certain facts" that "there are objects or traces in the places to be searched. These are to be secured for reasons of evidence. This suspicion must be sufficient before the intervention."

Searches without such suspicion, only on the basis of certain assumptions and hopes, at random, are inadmissible.

Das Oberlandesgericht kritisiert die Methoden der WKStA.

This suspicion apparently did not exist in this specific case - because the Higher Regional Court criticized the WKStA for carrying out the search "at random, in order to obtain suspicions in the first place". This criticism really hurts.