The commission of inquiry set up by Justice Minister Alma Zadic (Greens) into the death of Justice Department head Christian Pilnacek in autumn 2023 has completed its investigation as planned, as its head Martin Kreutner confirmed to OÖNachrichten. The final report is to be presented “by Monday at the latest”.
The investigation looked into whether the once most powerful judicial official had exerted any influence on the prosecution’s proceedings since he took office as head of department on January 1, 2010. It was also investigated whether there had been any interventions by political parties in the administration of justice. Pilnacek himself provided the impetus with statements regarding alleged repeated attempts by VP officials to persuade him to influence proceedings – which can be heard on an audio recording secretly recorded at a dinner.
In addition to this tape, the Kreutner Commission has examined thousands of pages of files and conducted dozens of interviews. A laptop belonging to Pilnacek that surfaced following his death was also analyzed. Many classified files from Ibiza/Novomatic to Eurofighter were said to have been found on the hard drive. There are even documents from the Interior Ministry (regarding the Wirecard and BVT affairs). The latter are said to have been created following Pilnacek’s suspension.
In addition, internal correspondence from the Economic and Corruption Prosecutor’s Office as well as with people close to the VP are on the laptop.
Author
Lucian Mayringer
Editor Domestic Policy
Lucian Mayringer
