Trial in Feldkirch

Causa Wirtschaftsbund before the regional court

The four defendants in court.

(Bild: Dorn Chantall)

Former provincial governor Karlheinz Rüdisser (ÖVP) and three other former executives of the Vorarlberg Economic Association have had to answer to the Feldkirch Regional Court in the "Economic Association Affair" since Tuesday morning. The charges are breach of trust and acceptance of benefits for the purpose of influencing or granting benefits for the purpose of influencing. 

Specifically, the charges relate to the payment of Christmas dinners with 30 to 35 participants each in 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 as well as a dinner to mark Rüdisser's departure from politics in 2019 with a total value of EUR 12,980. The Christmas dinners were organized by Rüdisser and the bills were paid by the Wirtschaftsbund. According to the Public Prosecutor's Office for Economic Affairs and Corruption (WKStA), Rüdisser received an undue advantage as a result. The public prosecutor's office also assumes that Rüdisser "allowed himself to be influenced in his work as a public official". At the beginning of the hearing on Tuesday, the public prosecutor used the term "feeding".

Prosecution: Wirtschaftsbund wanted to influence
The Wirtschaftsbund in turn - namely former Wirtschaftsbund chairman and Chamber of Commerce president Hans Peter Metzler, former Wirtschaftsbund director Jürgen Kessler and his predecessor Walter Natter - wanted to influence a public official in his work by paying for the meals, according to the prosecution. Rüdisser, Metzler, Kessler and Natter had financially damaged the Wirtschaftsbund, which is why they are also accused of embezzlement. The application for the imposition of an association fine against the Wirtschaftsbund for the granting of benefits to influence is also being heard.

Tax audit set the ball rolling
The "Wirtschaftsbund affair" was set in motion by a tax audit of the Vorarlberger Wirtschaftsbund in spring 2022, which looked into the financing of the Wirtschaftsbund and the association's cash flows. The resignations of Metzler and Kessler, among others, followed as a result of critically scrutinized advertising transactions, with Rüdisser taking over on an interim basis to deal with the case. Subsequently, Governor Markus Wallner (ÖVP) came under pressure due to an allegation of corruption, but no charges were brought. In the end, the Wirtschaftsbund ended up paying just over 770,000 euros in back taxes for the years 2016 to 2021. At the end of November 2022, the current State Economic Councillor Marco Tittler became the new Chairman of the Wirtschaftsbund and Christoph Thoma became its new Director.