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Sebastian Kurz
Photo: Bloomberg / Bloomberg via Getty Images
There is a new twist in the corruption affair surrounding the Chancellor party ÖVP and its chairman Sebastian Kurz: As it became known on Friday, a co-accused pollster is now cooperating with the judiciary.
This emerges from an »incident report« by the Federal Office for the Fight against Corruption, which SPIEGEL has received and which the Ö1 morning journal and »DER STANDARD« reported first.
According to this, pollster Sabine Beinschab declared on October 13th that she wanted to unpack the matter: "I am now ready to voluntarily disclose my knowledge of facts and / or evidence," says a passage in the document signed by Beinschab.
The willingness to speak was preceded by a night in custody of the judiciary.
The 37-year-old was arrested the day before the statement, reason: danger of blackout.
Investigators from the Economic and Corruption Prosecutor's Office (WKStA) had previously found out that Beinschab had already deleted the chat histories with other suspects hours before the house searches in Kurz's surroundings.
After the assurance that he would support the corruption hunters in the future and avoid contact with other accused such as Sebastian Kurz, WKStA senior public prosecutor Gregor Adamovic released his leg.
Will scabbard be the prosecutor's key witness?
This could make the pollster the central figure in solving the corruption affair.
During her interrogation by the WKStA, the demoscopist was informed about the modalities of a leniency program.
This option is only available to one person per procedure - and, in addition to full cooperation, requires investigators to be informed of relevant knowledge that they did not have before.
In the major proceedings that led to Kurz resigning as Austrian Chancellor, Beinschab is the first co-accused known to be working with the authorities.
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Pollster Beinschab (archive image)
Photo: CHRISTIAN FORCHER / picture alliance / CHRISTIAN FORCHER / APA / picturedesk.com
The leniency program, which could be accompanied by a reduction in sentences, should be of interest to Beinschab. Because the allegations made against them are grave. The corruption hunters accuse the 37-year-old of having done surveys from the end of 2016 in such a way that they were useful to Sebastian Kurz and those around him. She is also suspected of having issued bogus bills for her services. These are said to have been paid for with tax money - by brief confidants who sat in the government apparatus. The pollster could therefore also have been involved in the offenses of embezzlement and bribery.
The report that has now become known is also attached to documents that were probably presented to Beinschab when she was questioned.
These are very brief calendar entries from 2017 as well as a chat from the following year: In it, Beinschab apparently exchanged survey figures with Sebastian Kurz's intimate and first media officer Gerald Fleischmann.
Attack on the Attorney General's love life
The counter-attacks are already in full swing: In the days before, allegations were made against the WKStA in ÖVP-related media and in social networks. So far, ÖVP representatives had generally accused the investigators of acting biased. Now the attacks are targeting individuals, above all the senior public prosecutor Gregor Adamovic. It was he who questioned pollster Beinschab, and he was also present when Sebastian Kurz was questioned about alleged false statements.
Now Adamovic's love affair with an economist who was also involved in the investigation was denounced - a partnership that had long been known within the authorities and had already been classified as harmless.
On behalf of the WKStA, the expert evaluated the chats of the brief confidante Thomas Schmid - and thus essentially advanced the investigation.
For the ÖVP boss, however, the news that became known was a catastrophe, as it corroborated the suspicion of corruption - and documented how Kurz reviled his former party leader as an "ass", enjoyed the fact that a bishop was humiliated and, as foreign minister, joined the coalition at the time torpedoed with the words: "Can I incite a federal state?"
Short-term fans therefore have every reason to focus on the relationship between the economist involved in the chats and Adamovic.
The online platform Exxpress in particular stands out with increasingly shrill tones.
The medium, which has only existed for a few months, is largely financed by the wife of a major ÖVP donor.
The professional past of the woman, who is herself an entrepreneur, may also play a role.
Just a few years ago she was acting as deputy head of cabinet in the finance ministry, which was also led by the ÖVP.
At her side back then: the brief confidante Thomas Schmid, from whose data memory the sensitive chats originate.
It is unlikely that the attacks on the investigators will improve Kurz's situation.
The ex-chancellor is still the head of the ÖVP, but outside the Vienna regional association, the confessions of powerful party friends are becoming vague: "Sebastian Kurz is our elected federal party leader - he is and he will be," said Upper Austria's head of government Thomas Stelzer these days.
And then added a sentence that didn't sound like a job guarantee for Kurz: "We'll see how this develops over the next few months."
