The answer of Heinz-Christian Strache, at that time vice-chancellor of Austria and head of the FPÖ, sounded clear. One day before the publication of the Ibiza video, he replied by WhatsApp to questions from SPIEGEL and the "Süddeutsche Zeitung": Yes, there was an evening in July 2017 on the island in "relaxed, informal and moaning holiday atmosphere". He had repeatedly pointed to "the need to comply with the Austrian legal system" at the meeting with a supposed oligarchic niece. Incidentally, Strache continued, "in addition to the fact that a lot of alcohol was served during the evening, there was also a high language barrier".
All very harmless, that was Strach's message, holiday banter in Ibiza, not anymore. The recordings, however, on which Strache and his confidant Johann Gudenus squawked with the supposed Russian among other things on the purchase of shares of the "Kronen" newspaper and on possible government contracts, the Strache of the investor would then zuschanzen, not only led to the resignation Straches and Gudenus, chancellor Sebastian Kurz immediately dissolved the government from FPÖ and ÖVP.
Research by the Austrian news magazine "Profil" now shows that Strache was clearly in high turmoil when he received the request from SPIEGEL and SZ on May 15th.
The "Soko Ibiza", which is to bring light into the darkness of the affair, let the calls of Straches mobile phone evaluate - and met with interesting connections. According to "Profil", this is the result of a police "event report" from August, which went to the Vienna Economic and Corruption Prosecutor's Office.
After receiving the request Strache tried several times to reach his confidante Gudenus. It was followed by "a lot of talks" with numbers from the FPÖ environment, as the head of Soko Ibiza noted.
Not half an hour after receiving the press request from Germany chose Strache, so it has researched "profile", apparently the mobile number of a billionaire, about which he had said in Ibiza, he paid "the ÖVP and us": René Benko, founder of the real estate company Signa , The conversation lasted a good six minutes. Then Strache received a phone call from Kathrin Glock, the wife of gun company Gaston Glock. Glock had also Strache on the secretly recorded Ibiza video referred to as alleged donor of the FPÖ. Both Benko and Glock denied SPIEGEL and SZ sharply to have donated directly or indirectly to the party.
Between 15:50 and 15:58 Strache got according to "profile" four more calls from a number, which assigns the "Soko Ibiza" the Glock GmbH. In the late evening, Strache apparently called René Benko again, the conversation should have lasted about seven minutes.
But there also seemed to be a need for discussion with the coalition partner. One day after the request, on the evening of May 16, apparently tried the then Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) Strache repeatedly. The next day, at 13:04, then called according to police record Strache at Kurz, the call should have lasted about five minutes. A few hours later SPIEGEL and SZ published excerpts of the Ibiza video.
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What was discussed in the phone calls, is not known, the data only shows that they took place. However, the "Soko Ibiza" has also ensured numerous chat protocols in their investigations. Among them, after research by "profile" is also a conversation between Strache and a Viennese notary. It is from the day before the release of the Ibiza video. Strache wrote to the notary via chat: "Do you have a safe in your office where I can store sensitive documents?". The answer: "Yes, have a private safe." Strache asks him if he can bring him a "larger" file, whereupon the notary wrote: "Can I keep safe."
On October 24, the notary got a visit from the prosecutor. She demanded the opening of the vault. But the alleged Strache file was not found. During his testimony, the notary stated that he no longer heard anything after Strache's chat and did not receive any documents from him.
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