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Anti-corruption raid on Carinthian FPÖ

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Staff reporter - [email protected]
Anti-corruption raid on Carinthian FPÖ
Former FPÖ finance officer Harald Dobernig. Photo: APA/Eggenberger

The Carinthian headquarters of the right-wing Freedom Party (FPÖ) and the home of the party’s former finance officer Harald Dobernig have been raided by the Federal Office for Anti-Corruption (BAK).

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According to the Austrian Press Agency the investigation concerns freebies accepted by former members of government.

Antoinette Tröster, spokeswoman for the public prosecutor’s office in Klagenfurt, confirmed that the raids had taken place, and said they were to do with “the procurement of promotional gifts in 2008 and 2009”.

It has emerged that watches, worth almost €15,000, were given away as gifts by the regional government.  

Three unnamed defendants are being investigated, under suspicion of having abused their authority.

Dobernig’s lawyer Franz Großmann confirmed that his client was under investigation for “breach of trust” and said it concerned freebies that “all members of the government were accepting”. He added that the allegations were unfounded and would soon be discredited.

Christian Ragger, the leader of the FPÖ in Carinthia, said he did not “give a damn” about the allegations - and that not a single FPÖ member was guilty of such a thing.

The investigation relates specifically to the activities of the right-wing populist party Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ) in 2008 and 2009, which was founded by former Freedom Party leader Jörg Haider.

Haider died as a result of driving under the influence in 2008, and the Carinthia chapter of the BZÖ broke off from the national party to work together with the FPÖ.

Willi Korak, the current BZÖ member of parliament for Carinthia, denied that his party had anything to do with the allegations of corruption. “This is about the FPÖ... we made a completely new start,” he said.





 

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