Meadow rededicated

Trial over villa for Saudi prince on Lake Mondsee

The Saudi prince wanted a residence on Lake Mondsee and is said to have had a green meadow illegally rezoned

(Bild: Melanie Hutter)

A fairy tale from 1001 nights that turned into a nightmare for the ex-mayor! At the center of it all is a Saudi prince who wanted to build a second home on a greenfield site on Lake Mondsee. Therefore, after a 364,000 euro down payment, money is said to have flowed for 23 years so that a villa disguised as a hotel could be built here after all. Now the mayor is on trial for bribery!

In a 20-minute presentation, the public prosecutor describes why the former mayor and honorary citizen of the Mondseeland municipality is on trial. As a local councillor and later as mayor, he is said to have taken money for the municipality so that a villa could be built on a meadow in Innerschwand that could not actually be rezoned.

"There was never a hotel"
The rezoning was permitted via the detour "special tourism area" - a hotel was to be built. "But there was never a hotel here," said the senior public prosecutor, who also noted that "local taxes were never paid". Everything had been arranged through an intermediary in 1998, and the prince himself had moved in in 2001.

Annual payments for the municipality
Five million shillings (around 364,000 euros) were transferred to the municipality for the rezoning and then 35,000 euros annually from 2014 onwards, followed by 50,000 euros. The senior public prosecutor calls this "bribery", alleging that a hotel was never planned, but rather a second home.

District governor reported the case
Everything only came to light in 2023 when the district governor of Vöcklabruck discovered the payments in the municipal budget and filed a complaint. For most of the other municipal council members - there were 13 in total - as well as for the mayor at the time, everything was already time-barred, but because the long-serving mayor had accepted the annual payments, this postponed the statute of limitations and he now has to answer for it.

"There was no cheating"
The defense lawyer argues that there was "no hanky-panky", "no secrecy". Instead, everyone knew that the prince wanted to settle here; a referendum was even held. Around 53 percent of Innerschwander were in favor. "This was decisive as to whether or not something would go ahead," says the ex-head of the village's lawyer. It was also "about a business settlement" and a "rededication for the common good", as this settlement brings money to the municipality. "It was planned, built and approved as a hotel. Over 70 points had to be fulfilled," says the defense lawyer. There was also the possibility that other members of the up to 8,000-strong Prince family would want to settle here or go on vacation. "Do you say 'no' to that as a local councillor?" asks the defence lawyer, and: "The project was also examined and approved by the state."

"There was an interest in state policy"
The accused ex-mayor, who was head of the building committee at the time of the reallocation, speaks of the "great help in the decision" that the Prince's money was used to pay for the drinks tax that was not paid at the time. "They wanted the royal family to have a seat in Austria," he says, adding that there was "state political interest". "We made everything transparent. It was in every newspaper, in all the community news" - "I plead not guilty". The trial is scheduled to last two days, with a sentence of up to five years in prison if convicted. The presumption of innocence applies.