Buwog process: court ruling decides on Graser's fate!

Buwog process: court ruling decides on Graser's fate!

In the Buwog process, which has been going on for 16 years, the judgment will be announced on Tuesday at 10 a.m. This process is considered one of the most important corruption procedures in Austria and affects the former finance minister Karl-Heinz Grasser and six co-accused. All accused assert their innocence and see serious allegations: they are accused of manipulated the sale of 60,000 federal apartments in 2004 and collected illegal commissions in the millions. Krone reports that the defendants were initially not legally sentenced to several years in prison in 2020, with Grasser at the age of eight, Meischberger at the age of seven and Hochegger.

The case is characterized by a long chronology: the Buwog was already sold for 961 million euros in 2004, and in 2007 the Court of Auditors criticized the sales price. In 2009 there was a scandal when a commission payment of 9.6 million euros became public. In 2012, an committee of inquiry was launched, followed by an official charge for suspicion of corruption in 2016. The process finally began in 2017, while the appeal procedure is now pending at the Supreme Court (OGH).

allegations and reactions

Grasser is specifically accused of revealing information about the bid of the inferior bidder CA Immo to the victorious bidder. Last week there was a renewed negotiation, in which his lawyers described the judgments as politically motivated and incorrect. Grasser himself speaks of a "sword of Damocles" from the past that is difficult on it.

The current developments in the Buwog process are in the context of a broader problem of corruption in Austria, which was last taken up by Transparency International (Ti). According to a current report Nachrichten.at , Austria has achieved a value of 67 out of 100 points in the corruption index and thus lost its place to 25th place. In the previous year the country was still in 20th place and five years ago in 15th place. Bettina Knötzl, the CEO of Ti-Austria, described the negative trend as "shameful".

Criticism of the fight against corruption

The reasons for the poorer evaluation are diverse and contain numerous political scandals, friendship and personal enrichment. Political influence on independent media and the lack of independent management of the public prosecutors, in particular the Economic and Corruption Prosecutor (WKSTA), is particularly critical. In addition, Austria shows itself as the bottom of the implementation of the Freedom of Information Act.

The assessment of the perception of corruption is based on data from twelve institutions, including the World Economic Forum. The index, which has been recorded since the 1990s, reveals a worrying development in which the top places of countries such as Denmark and Finland are taken, while Austria continues to drop in European comparison.

The need to promote transparency and strengthen trust in decision -makers is clearly emphasized by TI. The organization appeals to the upcoming government to take measures to strengthen media independence and to create an independent issue for public prosecutors in order to prevent further abuse of power.