Suspicion of manipulation

Federal Administrative Court: Public prosecutor investigates

Around 220 judges work at the BVwG throughout Austria.

(Bild: APA/ROLAND SCHLAGER)

The public prosecutor's office in Innsbruck has initiated preliminary proceedings against nine members of the Federal Administrative Court (BVwG). This emerges from a written response to an inquiry by Justice Minister Alma Zadic, which is available to the "Krone".

NEOS MP Stephanie Krisper had wanted to know from the Green politician, among other things, whether steps had already been taken by the public prosecutor's office in the case concerning the possible interference in the allocation of responsibilities. This has now been answered in the affirmative. The accusation is abuse of official authority. The presumption of innocence applies.

The background to this was a "Krone" report from the beginning of March, which contained a suspicion of manipulation. According to the report, a former president and a vice president of the Federal Administrative Court may have had a hand in the allocation of new cases to judges.

The so-called allocation of cases is of central importance for a court because it determines in advance which judge will receive which case for decision in the future. No one should be able to influence the selection of judges. In a constitutional state, this is the central pillar of an independent judiciary.

Interference strictly prohibited
At the Federal Administrative Court, too, new cases must be recorded immediately by the registry in the order in which they are received ("allocation wheel") and assigned to the responsible judges via an electronic file distribution system. No president, vice president or minister may intervene in this system.

In 2022 and 2023, new cases at the Federal Administrative Court will not be assigned immediately by the Registry to the responsible judges, but will be transmitted by the Registry to the "President's Office" by e-mail. A new case is then said to have been forwarded from the "President's Office" to the personal email address of a Vice President.