Kickl is accused of not reporting additional income and thus violating transparency rules. The FPÖ leader denies this. The committee has now asked him to answer questions and provide evidence within four weeks.
It must now be examined whether the Incompatibility and Transparency Act has been violated, said David StögmüllerChairman of the Incompatibility Committee and member of the Green Party, spoke to journalists before the start of the meeting. For this purpose, a so-called inquiry procedure was decided upon, in the course of which Kickl will be sent a kind of written list of questions. It is the first time that such an inquiry procedure has been initiated since its introduction in 2021, emphasized Stögmüller.
Participation in advertising agency?
The SPÖ MP Jan Krainerwho had made the allegations against Kickl, once again accused Kickl of having reported his additional income and business activities incompletely or incorrectly under the Transparency Act and of having violated the professional ban for club chairmen. Among other things, this concerns a possible involvement of Kickl in an advertising agency via a trust agreement, which was also discussed in the investigative committee. However, Krainer did not believe that Kickl would lose his mandate as the final consequence of the proceedings.
The NEOS MP and vice-chairman Yannick Shetty saw a need for clarification on the issue, after Kickl had been reluctant to provide information in the investigative committee, but warned against using the proceedings “as an election campaign platform”.
FPÖ rejects allegations
The FPÖ denies any wrongdoing and sees the unauthorized disclosure of tax documents as the reason for the allegations. The Freedom Party MP Christian Ragger spoke of a “criminalization of Kickl” and accused the SPÖ of trying to prolong the terminated investigative committee with “party political banter”. Since Kickl had not reported any additional income, the inquiry procedure would also be answered with an empty report, he announced.
Krainer rejected the accusation of unauthorized disclosure of tax records: The documents all came from the investigative committee, he said. It was up to Kickl to answer the questions as quickly as possible and thus put the issue to rest before the intensive election campaign, said the SPÖ representative.
No additional income reported
The National Council is actually on summer break, but in the last session at the beginning of July, a majority decided to continue the Incompatibility Committee during the non-session period. The Incompatibility Committee discusses reports from MPs in accordance with the Incompatibility and Transparency Act. MPs must disclose all secondary activities and managerial voluntary activities, and the range of their secondary income is also published. Club leaders are not allowed to pursue a job with the intention of earning a living in addition to their function. Kickl has not reported any secondary income in the current legislative period since 2019.
