The Justice Department provided the U-Committee with pages of chat records from Heinz-Christian Strauch's cellphone from the Turquoise-Blue government. It is in the conversations of the former vice-chancellor.
Next week, the series of U-groups of the election year will really begin: on Wednesday, the Cofag U-committee set up by the SPÖ and FPÖ and a week later in the U-group set up by the ÖVP will begin investigations. Instead of “red-blue abuse of power”. In this, the Turks primarily plan to roll over old FPÖ affairs. So far, however, the Ministry of Justice has not complied with the ÖVP's requests for files; The department led by the Greens sometimes prefers to wait for the Constitutional Court's decision on the topic of investigation as defined by the ÖVP.
But now the ÖVP request for the files has been fulfilled: at Turquoise's request, the Justice Ministry released chats from the previously confiscated cell phone of former vice chancellor and FPÖ leader Heinz-Christian Strache; Document “Print”. The delivery totals 68 pages, including Strache's chats with leading Blues such as party leader Herbert Gicl, EU frontman Harald Wilimski, third National Council chairman Norbert Hofer and general secretary Christian Hafeneker.
Half of the document has been blacked out by the judiciary – but the remaining passages contain several explosive passages that the ÖVP discusses in the U-Committee. For example, it is close to the FPÖ Russia, which under Strache also concluded a friendship pact with Vladimir Putin's party. In April 2019, Strauch wrote to his secretary-general: “Russia requests an exchange of views with the young officers in Austria; Something should be possible with the Management Academy. Fix something please!” replied the staffer, and it was “done” – but shortly afterwards the government imploded after Strache's Ibiza scandal.
ORF extraction requested
Elsewhere it was about advertising: Strauch wrote that the tabloid “oe24” should stop advertising because Spitzebleau invited his closest rival, Ewald Stadler, to the debate. Not to do so “despite promises”. We must make it clear to the media chief that we do not feed him ads because he (…) calls FPÖ haters and writes against us. After a while, the matter was settled with the paper. Strauch: “Please keep putting (ads, note), we've got it sorted.”
As is well known, the FPÖ had problems with the ORF, as Strauch wrote in 2019: “The ORF has never been bad towards us. We must abolish GIS!” Staff changes at ORF are necessary, “otherwise not even an article about us will be more objective or friendly.” Strauch: “Someone must be thrown for this!!!!!!” Agreed at the top of the FPÖ, 2019 , it had to be the then general director of the SPÖ, Alexander Vrabets.
The ÖVP and Neos are highly critical, for example, Binks accuses the FPÖ of a “propaganda corruption system”, which is a “living practice” in the SPÖ and ÖVP. The FPÖ and Strache then put the chat protocol into perspective: when the Blues were in government, they had only “regular relations within the government” between them and Russia. Strauch explained that the ads discussed are just party ads and one can place them as one likes.
By the way, this is unlikely to be the last stretch chats in the group; The ÖVP requested contact with almost 50 politicians.
