The stumbling block at Causa Casinos Austria, Peter Sidlo, will be the main character in the Ibiza committee of inquiry next week. The freedom man is accused of coming on the Casag board of directors despite a lack of qualifications and under pressure from the gaming company Novomatic. There are agreements in the turquoise-blue coalition in the room. FPÖ chief Norbert Hofer is also invited.
The FPÖ district council from Vienna-Alsergrund rose under the turquoise-blue government to the CFO of Casinos Austria. It is said that the situation was not right, which is also checked by the Economic and Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (WKStA). It investigates possible secret agreements. There is suspicion in the room that the FPÖ, together with the gaming group Novomatic and in consultation with the ÖVP Sidlo, could have won out as candidates.
There is also a connection with the Ibiza video in the case. The FPÖ leader who had resigned after the affair and then Vice-Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache had boasted that gambling companies, for example, were heavily involved in politics. Quote: “Novomatic pays everyone.” Strache was already an informant on the investigation committee and denied any post clerk. Casino representatives such as Chairman of the Supervisory Board Walter Rothensteiner have already denied this.
According to Sidlo, who testifies on Wednesday, other representatives of the then ÖVP-FPÖ government will be invited to provide information on casinos in the coming week. The next day, the former Minister of Infrastructure and Strache’s successor as FPÖ chief, Norbert Hofer, has his turn. He was the blue counterpart of ÖVP minister Gernot Blümel, who also testified in committee – and remembered very little.
Another member of the blue government, former finance secretary Hubert Fuchs, testifies on the same day as Sidlo in the committee. He is also accused of having had knowledge of the alleged Postenschacher in connection with a possible law purchase of Novomatic. Fuchs, like all the other people and companies mentioned in the proceedings, has already denied the allegations several times in the media.
Information will also be provided on Wednesday by the former head of corporate communications at Novomatic, Bernhard Krumpel. On Thursday, following Hofer, the ÖBB Holding AG CFO, Arnold Schiefer, is close to the FPÖ. He is said to have informed Strache and Hofer that Sidlo’s order is wobbling on the Casag board. The last person to provide information in the coming week is the head of Sigma Investment AG, the blue ORF Foundation Council member Markus Braun, for whom Sidlo was CFO.
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