On Friday, Thomas Schmid made his second appearance as a witness in the false testimony trial once morest ex-Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (VP) and his head of cabinet Bernhard Bonelli. And the formerly busy Secretary General of Finance stuck to his statement, as he did on Monday in the Vienna Criminal Regional Court, that his rise to sole directorship of the state holding company ÖBAG was only possible with Kurz’s support.
Prosecutors on the move
This time it was the turn of the Economic and Corruption Public Prosecutor’s Office (WKStA), which accuses Kurz and Bonelli of having made false statements to the Ibiza committee of inquiry regarding their role in the ÖBAG reform.
But before that, Judge Michael Radasztics wanted to know from Schmid why ex-Finance Minister Hartwig Löger (VP), his boss at the time, did not see Kurz as an active player in the ÖBAG reform, unlike himself. He was surprised “that Löger left out the role of the Federal Chancellery,” said Schmid. Löger is expected to be the next witness in the large jury courtroom on Monday.
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Afterwards, Gregor Adamovic from the WKStA presented numerous chats that suggested what Schmid was to confirm once more and once more in his descriptions: Even during the turquoise-blue coalition negotiations in 2017, Kurz had repeatedly consulted him on the issues of participation and the budget.
- HONEY 1: Short trial: Thomas Schmid interviewed once more
The procedure was “very, very closely” coordinated. He took the lead in negotiating the conversion of the state holding company into ÖBAG with Arnold Schiefer on the FP side. Then why did Kurz say that he, Schmid, had “cooked his own soup”? “You mightn’t create an ÖBAG or a budget in the Kurz system without backing or support,” said the witness. The state holding company was very important to the head of government. He saw it as a “power political control instrument”. Schmid referred to a chat with him in which the Chancellor praised him (“You’re doing really great”).
In personnel matters, such as proposals for the ÖBAG supervisory board, his first point of contact was always Bonelli. In this context, Schmid also had to explain a short message from the ex-cabinet head to him (“That fits”). In view of a list of names surrounding Supervisory Board Chairman Helmut Kern, what was meant was: “If it suits the Chancellor, then it suits.”
“Basically, personnel policy was an important concern for Sebastian Kurz.” He repeatedly “updated” it in phone calls, at dinner or on hikes, said Schmid, who is applying for key witness status in the “survey affair” in which he, along with Kurz and others, is listed as a defendant.
Kurz’s defense attorney Otto Dietrich then requested that all of Schmid’s chats with a “Krone” editor be obtained. These are intended to prove that it was the witness’s own initiative to get himself into the executive chair of ÖBAG.
Sebastian Kurz, who once once more denied Schmid’s representations at the end of a marathon meeting, had already portrayed the ex-Finance Secretary General as an over-ambitious lobbyist on his own behalf in his initial interview. On Monday the process enters its final round before the Christmas break.
Author
Lucian Mayringer
Internal politics editor
Lucian Mayringer
