2023-09-25 17:07:00
The FP expenses affair is being processed in court case by case. According to the public prosecutor’s office, the total damage is 1.032 million euros. The former FP chairman Heinz-Christian Strache is accused of having financed private expenses through the party using fictitious expense reports.
Last week, a trial once morest the driver Straches in the case ended with a diversion. He had to pay a total of 6,800 euros in fines because he declared two of his own restaurant bills as party expenses.
On Monday, an innkeeper from the Tulln district stood before the Korneuburg regional court. The 55-year-old was accused of handing over at least 19 fictitious invoices totaling 29,000 euros to a former Strache employee. Between August 2013 and July 2017 there should have been an average of four to five bills per year, the innkeeper said in court.
An ex-employee of Strache and a “very good guest” asked him at the time whether he might have an invoice for internal billing and for expenses that might not be verified. The innkeeper made reprints of bills that came from other guests. None of them were related to the FPÖ. The innkeeper said he had not benefited from it.
The previously blameless Lower Austrian was sentenced yesterday to 400 daily rates of 20 euros for serious fraud and embezzlement as well as giving false evidence. At the end of the negotiation he showed his understanding: “I won’t have anything like that once more. Just more food and drink.”
The investigation once morest Strache is still ongoing and a date for the trial is still pending. Strache himself protests his innocence. The former FP boss is also being investigated for filling a position at Casinos Austria.
Two proceedings ended with acquittals for Strache: one relating to the private hospital financing fund and one relating to donations from the entrepreneur Siegfried Stieglitz.
1695663903
#FPÖ #expenses #affair #Innkeeper #sentenced #fine #euros
