Austria – “I love my advisor”: The controversial chat minutes put Sebastian Curtis in trouble

Very talented position for a party friend, asked here, discount there – hardly draws an experienced Austrian from a fireplace bench. But what has been discovered from the inner workings of the republic in the past few days is strong tobacco even for a country in the Eastern Alps familiar with nepotism.

The front line in the conflict is as follows: On one side is the Attorney General’s Office for Economics and Corruption (WKStA). On the other hand, Chancellor Party ÖVP. Heavy artillery in this dispute, which now also strikes Counselor Sebastian Curtis in person: chat logs. This shows how Chancellor Curtis and Finance Minister Blumel & Co. built a state for themselves.

The conversations revolve around how job ads are designed for ‘for the family’, but also how the Catholic Church, for example, has been publicly threatened with revoking tax breaks after criticizing the government’s turquoise blue asylum policy (2017-2019). It also recounts how the media was organized and how the “family” was warned of investigations from within the judiciary. The image that appears: a state within a state, built, controlled, controlled, and high-ranking positions filled with close associates.

Minister of Finance before the Ibiza Committee

On Tuesday, the record that the OTP delivered to the Ibiza Parliamentary Committee had a first political result: Finance Minister Gernot Blumel had to testify before the committee. Specifically: to appoint a brief close associate Thomas Schmid as head of the Austrian investment company ÖBAG, together with the combined “steerable” supervisory board.

Finance Minister Gernot Blumel (ÖVP) on Wednesday, April 7, 2021, as part of the Ibiza Committee at the Camineum of the National Library in Vienna.

Helmut Furinger / What / What

Expectations from Bloomel’s comments to gain insights were rather low. In a preliminary survey on the ÖBAG issue before the committee in June 2020, Blumel was unable to recall the circumstances questioned 80 times. These include details such as: whether he has a laptop to serve in his position as chancellor in the turquoise blue coalition. It can be seen in many photos with a laptop.

“You are a family” – “I love my counselor.”

Were it not for the crutches of memory that appeared. Because, according to the chats, Blumel wrote to Schmid after the decision on the legal basis for his appointment as ÖBAG President in Parliament: “SchmidAG is over”. And he had previously assured him: “You are my family.” He wrote briefly to Schmid: “You can have anything you want anyway.” Then Schmid told Curtis, “I am very happy :-)) I love my counselor. It spans hundreds of pages.

One feels happy about the media that has been put in the line (“Thank God, ÖVP”); He is happy to threaten the clergy with threats (Schmid: “It was red at first, then pale, then shaken”; shortly thereafter: “Thank you very much, collector of the supervisory board :)”).

It becomes especially difficult for one person: Christian Belnac, who has been with the Ministry of Justice for many years, but has been sidelined at the Ministry of Justice. According to the suspicion confirmed by the report, he may have informed the “family” of the investigations and house searches. Apparently recently about one in Blumail: This explains, for example, the fact that his wife was walking with the couple’s baby and her husband’s laptop at the time of the search.

One thing is clear: the presumption of innocence applies to all parties involved. The remainder of this case, regardless of criminally relevant facts and gray political areas, is above all the Minister of Finance and Chancellor Party, whose image has been shaken in its foundations: in short, the ÖVP has taken possession of the advertisement to take new policies, not the old clans to use, to bring new ideas and desire To live with transparency.