She was acquitted of serious fraud in connection with the continued receipt of her ministerial salary. It will be clear in four weeks whether it will stay that way. On March 6th, the Supreme Court (OGH) will hear the appeals filed once morest the first instance decisions.
As OGH spokesman Frederick Lendl announced on Monday followingnoon, a decision will be made in a public hearing on the nullity complaints and the appeals of the defendants and the Economic and Corruption Public Prosecutor’s Office (WKStA). In view of the expected media interest, the Great Hall in the Palace of Justice was reserved for this purpose.
“Specifically restricted competition”
The first instance guilty verdict for the former ÖVP minister, who is still being investigated by the WKStA in connection with the ÖVP advertising affair, was based on three studies for the Ministry of Sports. Karmasin was awarded the contract for this by getting two competitors – including her former employee Sabine Beinschab – to “send to the client offers that she had specified in terms of content and agreed with her in advance in order to ensure that Karmasin Research, which is attributable to her & Identity GmbH would get the orders,” as the indictment stated.
Beinschab and the second competitor submitted offers between April 2019 and June 2021, which Karmasin then undercut. According to the first court, this was “in any case unlawful” and “targetedly restricted competition”.
A co-defendant head of department in the Ministry of Sports was acquitted of the allegations once morest him. The trial court held that there was no motive why the officer would have intentionally supported Karmasin with the intent to cause harm. It cannot be ruled out that he acted in their interests due to Karmasin’s good reputation at the time or out of obedience to the authorities.
Ministerial salaries continued to be received
As far as the allegation of serious fraud once morest Sophie Karmasin is concerned, the first court found that it was “undoubtedly proven” and “clearly documented” that following she left the ministerial office at the beginning of December 2017, despite taking up professional activity, she committed this “with full intention “had fraudulently obtained her continued payments until the end of May 2018. However, the first instance came to the conclusion that the criminal liability of the fraud was lifted because the ex-minister had to be admitted to have made good the damage completely, in a timely and voluntary manner, before the law enforcement authorities became aware of Karmasin’s guilt.
The fact that Karmasin had continued to receive her ministerial salary was first discussed by “ZiB 2” on March 7, 2022. Two days later, Karmasin – she was in custody at the time – arranged for around 62,000 euros to be repaid through her legal representatives. At that time, the WKStA was not yet investigating the ex-minister because of the continued payment of her salary. As of March 10, “no suspicion of a crime was apparent from the file,” the first court explained, justifying the existence of so-called “active remorse.” The refund of the wrongly received money was therefore initiated “in a timely manner” and in sufficient amounts.
The WKStA filed an appeal for nullity once morest the acquittal of fraud. She filed a criminal appeal once morest the suspended 15-month prison sentence for the provision on anti-competitive agreements.
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