The criminal case against ex-finance minister Karl-Heinz Grasser and others on suspicion of corruption in the privatization of federal apartments ended on Wednesday on the 154th day in a four-week summer break. Judge Marion Hohenecker read out of the Buwog act for two days. Listening protocols of the police telephone surveillance of the accused were also played.
For this file reading required by the Code of Criminal Procedure, all the accused had to appear again in the large jury court room of the Vienna Criminal Court, both from the federal privatization case and from the Linz Terminal Tower complex. Two lawyers who were ill were excused by their lawyers. The ex-lobbyist Peter Hochegger, who was also accused, said goodbye during the lunch break; he flies to his adopted country of Brazil, for which the State Department has issued a travel warning (security level 6) due to the severe impact of the corona pandemic.
If there are problems with entry or exit or other hurdles, Hochegger has already agreed in advance that the Grasser or Buwog process can be continued, even if the two-month deadline for a break in negotiations is exceeded. The other defendants also agreed to the judge’s request, but some wanted to limit this to the end of 2020.
The act of the mega process comprises more than 200 volumes. The judge had piled up part of it next to the judge’s table in the courtroom. In the course of the reading, she cited individual file components and also briefly discussed their content. The defendants have the right to comment – something that the co-accused Gerald Toifl, Walter Meischberger’s former legal representative and now himself on the dock, used briefly.
While only parts of the files were read out on Tuesday, judge Hohenecker also had bugging reports from the police telephone surveillance of the accused in the courtroom played on Wednesday. The poor acoustics in the large jury court room sometimes made listening difficult. After all, you could hear several talks between Walter Meischberger and ex-finance minister Karl-Heinz Grasser on the subject of buwog investigations, with Meischberger looking very talkative, while Grasser was more reserved.
The second-accused ex-FPÖ general secretary and lobbyist Meischberger made extensive calls to Grasser and the co-accused broker Ernst Plech at the beginning of 2010. Topics included the Buwog investigation, the Buwog commission and their tax treatment. Meischberger discussed a friend’s offer with Grasser, according to which a state police officer who was in contact with the public prosecutor’s office would be willing to provide information on the Buwog procedure for around 5,000 euros. With the co-accused, but ill broker Ernst Plech, Meischberger consulted what his performance on various business projects had been with commission.
In the afternoon, the negotiation ended not only for Hochegger, but also for all other process participants. “We’ll see each other in September,” the judge concluded.
After a four-week summer break, the first trial date on September 8 is dedicated to the Telekom indictment, after which the suspicion of corruption in the privatization of federal housing (Buwog and other housing associations) continues. Fifteen days of trial are scheduled, and in autumn the lay councilor could make a decision after a trial period of almost three years.
Those: APA
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