False testimony?

WKStA requests extradition of FPÖ leader Kickl

The WKStA intends to investigate FPÖ party chairman Herbert Kickl on suspicion of making false statements.

(Bild: APA/GEORG HOCHMUTH)

The Economic and Corruption Prosecutor's Office (WKStA) has asked parliament to extradite FPÖ party leader Herbert Kickl. The blue party leader is accused by the ÖVP of giving false testimony in April in the sub-committee on the "red-blue abuse of power".

The extradition request was confirmed in the office of National Council President Walter Rosenkranz on Thursday afternoon.

ÖVP submitted a statement of facts
According to the news magazine "profil", the background to this is a statement of facts that the former ÖVP member of parliament Andreas Hanger submitted to the Vienna public prosecutor's office on July 26.

In my opinion, Herbert Kickl told several untruths in the committee of inquiry into the red-blue abuse of power.

Der frühere ÖVP-Abgeordnete Andreas Hanger

Bild: APA/HELMUT FOHRINGER

Advertising agency, advertisements, Jenewein
The accusation is that Kickl told several untruths during his appearance before the committee of inquiry on April 11 , including about the affair surrounding the Klagenfurt advertising agency Ideenschmiede, as well as about blue advertising business and Kickl's relationship as Interior Minister with former FPÖ MP Hans-Jörg Jenewein. "I assume that parliament will approve the WKStA's extradition request. It will then be up to the investigating authorities to clarify the facts of the case in detail," Hanger emphasized in a press release.

According to the report, the Vienna public prosecutor's office handed the case over to the WKStA on August 26, which now wants to investigate. The WKStA did not wish to comment on the case.

FPÖ reacts indignantly
"The summoning of Herbert Kickl to the investigative committee was a political maneuver with the aim of damaging Herbert Kickl personally and the FPÖ as a whole," said a written statement from the Freedom Party parliamentary club on Thursday: "The political connection is therefore evident from our point of view."

The summoning of Herbert Kickl to the committee of inquiry was a political maneuver with the aim of damaging Herbert Kickl personally and the FPÖ as a whole.

Der Freiheitliche Parlamentsklub in einer Aussendung

Kickl had made the statement as a member of parliament and was therefore immune. The FPÖ therefore rejected the extradition request. Kickl had also "testified truthfully in the committee of inquiry".

Proceedings in the Casinos Austria case closed by WKStA
Meanwhile, the WKStA has - after more than five years - discontinued proceedings concerning Casinos Austria (Casag). In connection with a new appointment to the Management Board, they are alleged to have brought about the premature termination of two Management Board contracts, according to an anonymous complaint.