Criticisms included a lack of regulations for dealing with conflicts of interest and a lack of documentation. The allegations once morest Riedl have not been substantiated, the ORF reported on Saturday evening. Private transactions of the politician’s company were not part of the audit.
All property deals investigated
Since the summer of last year, the State Audit Office has been examining all of the municipality’s property deals between 2008 and 2023. 109 purchases and sales as well as necessary reallocations were examined. According to the results, the transactions might be justified plausibly and the rezonings were in line with the community’s development goals, the latter also affecting the mayor’s properties.
“Conflicts of interest and bias might therefore not be ruled out. (…) (There) were no regulations for dealing with conflicts of interest. (…) Such codes (…) would also be useful for the market town of Grafenwörth,” quoted the ORF, which has parts of the report. “The justifications (for the real estate transactions) were plausible, but not comprehensibly documented. (…) There was no documented documentation of the essential procedural steps and completions (…).” The purchase and sales prices were therefore not traceable in the files. There are also suggestions for improvement in contract design.
Private transactions not checked
There was also criticism: “The State Audit Office critically noted that the audit committee (…) only carried out 53 audits. In the years 2008 to 2023, the committee also did not carry out any audits of the market town’s property purchases and sales.” It was noted that the State Audit Office cannot investigate the transactions of private individuals – and therefore not private deals from Riedl’s real estate company.
After the allegations once morest Riedl, the municipal supervisory authority was also commissioned to carry out a supervisory procedure and examine the property sales. Their report makes reference to the State Audit Office in several points, it said. It was also noted: “Careful attention must be paid to compliance with value limits for legal transactions requiring approval and, in general, to the awareness of any grounds for bias (…) as well as their legally compliant documentation in the meeting minutes.”
Earned more than a million euros?
The report also deals in detail with three property transactions between the municipality and the Wirtschaftspark Wagram Land GmbH, in which the mayor is the managing director. “In one case he (referring to Riedl, note) did not take part in the local council meeting, in the other two cases he left the meeting room before the vote.” The municipal supervisory authority also noted that the mayor’s real estate transactions as a private individual are not covered by supervisory law and were therefore not examined.
According to media reports, Riedl is said to have earned more than one million euros through property sales in Grafenwörth and rezoning by the local council. There was criticism, for example, in connection with the “Sonnenweiher” construction project with more than 200 planned houses around a foil lake. The ÖVP politician has rejected allegations surrounding the property deals. He has suspended his office as head of the community association. A statute reform recently made it possible to vote out a president. The next meeting will take place on February 26th.
