The then managing director of the Austrian media group, Wolfgang Fellner, is also listed as a suspect. This emerges from documents available to the APA. There was initially no confirmation from the WKStA.
It was only at the beginning of April that chats became public showing how Strache intervened with Fellner several times in 2019. For example, he complained regarding appearances in the Fellner media by former FPÖ politician Ewald Stadler, whom he attested to hate the FPÖ, threatening to stop advertising. Stadler’s invitation was an “extremely unfriendly act towards us,” wrote Strache. Fellner did not respond directly, but later messages show that Strache was probably successful with his intervention.
“Please continue with Fellner”
Stadler was replaced by FPÖ veteran Andreas Mölzer. “At your request, I promised you that I would replace Stadler with Mölzer and implemented that immediately – but of course that only works if he is there,” Fellner wrote to Strache following he had put an ad stop in the room. Soon followingwards, Strache wrote in an internal FPÖ chat group: “Please continue to contact Fellner. We have sorted it out! He is coming our way.”
The Economic and Corruption Public Prosecutor’s Office (WKStA) apparently did not want to initiate an investigation on this basis because the chats were too vague and the advertising expenditure on “oe24” and Co. had not been significantly increased. However, the Vienna Public Prosecutor’s Office (OStA) stated that an investigation should be initiated “immediately” in order not to allow the case to become statute-barred. Investigations involve bribery, bribery and breach of trust.
“Not responsible for SMS”
In an initial reaction, the FPÖ once once more saw the “deep state” at work within the judiciary and specifically accused the management of the Vienna Public Prosecutor’s Office. In general, advertising contracts were awarded to media exclusively for objective reasons. “The FPÖ is calm regarding this investigation and is 100 percent convinced that it will be closed,” it said. The only goal is to harm the FPÖ.
Fellner told the “Standard” that he was “definitely not responsible” for Strache’s text message. The accusation of advertising corruption is absurd; he is not responsible for advertising sales and has always reported critically regarding the FPÖ.
