“Presse” and “Standard” reported this online on Monday. The Ministry of Justice received the project report in March 2023, as noted. The starting point was the investigation once morest the ÖVP and former Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.
The WKStA has been investigating the survey affair since 2021, in which surveys are said to have been paid for and placed in the media with tax money from ÖVP-run ministries. For this purpose, the former family minister Sophie Karmasin (ÖVP) and her former colleague Beinschab designed a PR tool. Former Chancellor Kurz and the ÖVP are said to have benefited from the surveys. Beinschab finally received star witness status following a confession and further statements.
Did the SPÖ also influence polls?
In one of these statements, Beinschab said that not only the ÖVP had influenced surveys, but also the SPÖ in cooperation with the free newspaper “Heute”. The result of the Sunday and Chancellor question was determined by the federal party – specifically through the then Federal Managing Director Laura Rudas. “If the result wasn’t right, it had to be changed,” Beinschab is said to have told the WKStA.
Project report was received following 8 months
The WKStA then examined initial suspicions once morest several prominent representatives of the SPÖ – including infidelity. As the daily newspaper “Die Presse” reports online, these are said to have included ex-party manager Laura Rudas and ex-minister Josef Ostermayer. The surveys are said to have been completed in the summer of 2022. According to the files available to the “Presse”, “the substantive examination of the allegations by the WKStA has been completed since July 7, 2022”. A project report was then issued. As the Ministry of Justice said on Monday evening, the project report was received in March 2023. Since then, this and the planned further processes in the case have been open for review.
Investigations planned to resume
According to the documents available to “Standard”, both the WKStA and the Vienna public prosecutor’s office, which is said to have also examined the resumption of investigations that were discontinued in the past in another advertising affair once morest former Chancellor Werner Faymann and ex-Infrastructure Minister Doris Bures, have been planning to discontinue the investigation since July 2022 once morest all reds.
The project report is in the Ministry of Justice for approval. The reason for the unusually long duration is that “a legal question that was crucial for the examination was not finally clarified by case law until autumn 2023,” as it said in a statement. In addition, the last public prosecutor’s report relevant to the ministry in the case did not arrive until the end of September 2023. In the meantime, however, “the processing by the specialist department has been completed”.
