Funding returned?

FPÖ financial scandal: province receives victim status

What happened in the Graz City FPÖ until fall 2021? The investigations are still ongoing.

(Bild: APA/INGRID KORNBERGER)

News about the investigations into the FPÖ financial scandal in Graz: in addition to the Korruptionsfreie Gemeinderatsklub (KFG), the province of Styria has now also been granted victim status by the public prosecutor's office in Klagenfurt as well as the connection as a private party. This has consequences.

Fraud, misuse of funding, embezzlement: the public prosecutor's office in Klagenfurt has been investigating the FPÖ financial scandal in Graz for over two years. It is alleged that former leaders of the city party, including former deputy mayor Mario Eustacchio, did not use around 1.8 million euros in club and funding money properly and even pocketed some of it themselves. Politicians from the provincial party are also being investigated for not intervening quickly and consistently enough. The presumption of innocence applies to all of them.

The province of Styria has also applied to the public prosecutor's office in Klagenfurt to be recognized as a victim and private party. After all, state subsidies are said to have been misused.

State receives access to files
And now it is clear: the application has been granted, as Tina Frimmel-Hesse confirmed in response to an inquiry from the "Krone" newspaper. What does this mean? In the event of a conviction, the state could reclaim the funding. In addition, the state will be granted access to the files with immediate effect and will always be kept up to date with the latest state of the investigation. 

In addition to the state, the Graz Corruption-Free Municipal Council Club (KFG), which emerged from the former FPÖ Municipal Council Club, and the state FPÖ itself are also considered victims and private parties.