How serious the bankruptcy of this regional bank is can also be seen from the fact that, according to KURIER information, Ilse Vrabl-Sanda, head of the Economic and Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (WKStA), has declared Causa a top priority and heads the investigative team of her authority herself.
The WKStA did not want to comment on this on request. It is announced that a team of several senior prosecutors was deployed with the involvement of a banking and an economic expert.
According to reports, Wolfgang Handler is the WKStA man on site. The senior prosecutor lives in Burgenland and has experience with Pannonian air business: in 2017 he was one of the prosecutors in the lawsuit against ex-board members and business partners of the state energy provider Bewag. It was about a never built wind farm project in Hungary and the allegation of infidelity and kickback – the two energy directors were acquitted in the end.
“Soko Commerz”
The chief himself also heads the “Soko Commerz” at the State Criminal Police Office, which, on behalf of the WKStA, carries out the interrogations of Pucher and his co-director as well as house searches. Under Colonel Ernst Schuch, the entire department for economic crime and fraud in the State Criminal Police Office is de facto part of the special commission.
And on Tuesday, the banking scandal finally landed politically on the federal political stage. SPÖ National Councilor Christian Drobits brought a parliamentary question to Justice Minister Alma Zadic (Greens) and announced another to Finance Minister Gernot Blümel (ÖVP). The key question: Why wasn’t the scandal uncovered earlier, despite several ads, from 2015? Investigation steps and chains of instructions from the authorities are to be disclosed.
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