At the match in Berlin

EM tickets: Investigation against Dornauer closed

Tyrol's SPÖ leader Georg Dornauer

(Bild: Birbaumer Christof)

The public prosecutor's office in Innsbruck has closed the investigation against Tyrol's deputy governor Georg Dornauer (SPÖ), who received free tickets from the Tyrolean Football Association (TFV) for a European Championship match between the Netherlands and Austria in Berlin at the end of June - the "Krone" reported. 

The trip was "justified for official reasons" and "no undue advantage" was gained as a result, the prosecution confirmed on Tuesday.

As Dornauer is responsible for sports matters within the black-red Tyrolean state government, the public prosecutor's office considered the trip to have been for official reasons. Tyrol's SPÖ provincial party chairman had previously been asked to make a statement by the Innsbruck public prosecutor's office after anonymous charges of "accepting benefits to influence" had been brought to the economic and corruption prosecutor's office.

I never doubted that the case would be dropped.

LH-Stv Georg Dornauer

At the European Championship match in Berlin
Dornauer had been offered and accepted four tickets for the European Championship match in June. In addition to the deputy governor, two of his office staff and a member of the SPÖ Tyrol club received the tickets. The travel expenses for himself and his two office staff were paid from the funds available in the government office.

After the case came to light, TFV President Josef Geisler emphasized that Dornauer had not approached the association on his own initiative. The regional sports councillor had "always had an open ear for the association and the clubs". The tickets had been provided as a "small thank you", so to speak. Dornauer argued that it had been an official visit in his capacity as sports councillor. Apart from the match, there had also been meetings with TFV officials and volunteers in Berlin.

Dornauer paid back the money
After the case came to light - and Dornauer had been heavily criticized by the opposition - Dornauer refunded the European Championship tickets and paid back the 800 euros to the TFV. Dornauer's lawyer Mathias Kapferer was convinced that there would be "no substrate left under criminal law". Dornauer now also said: "I never doubted that the case would be dropped."