Doskozil confirms puzzling transfer attempt at Commerzialbank

The regional management Burgenland is said to have tried shortly before the closure of the commercial bank to bring 1.2 million euros in security

The governor of Burgenland, Hans Peter Doskozil, needs a lot of explanation after the debacle of the Commerzialbank Mattersbank. The opposition shoots at the SPÖ.

Photo: APA / Schlager

There is certainly no shortage of puzzles in the Causa Commerzialbank Mattersburg. Business with a volume of several hundred million euros was apparently invented there for a very long time, under the aegis of bank manager Martin Pucher, who had entrusted his colleague K. with the corresponding tasks. He himself, who was not very familiar with the computer, was responsible for the cash withdrawals, it turns out from the investigation. None of this was noticed until the latest on-site inspection by the supervisory authority, which the bank closed just before midnight on July 14.

It was precisely at this time that a riddle was playing that apparently cannot be resolved at the moment. A few hours before the official lights off, the Burgenland Regional Management (RMB, a national company that is also responsible for subsidies) put 1.2 million euros from their account in security, apparently after a warning, the courier reported on Sunday evening. In total, around 2.5 million were in the account. The opposition brings ex-Economic Councilor Christian Illedits (SPÖ, he resigned on Saturday) in connection. However: The RMB strictly rejects this, they have not transferred or withdrawn anything and the account balance is still around 1.3 million euros. Governor Hans Peter Doskozil (SPÖ) announced lawsuits.

Doskozil admits transfer attempt
The particularly puzzling thing about it: In the ongoing investigation, the matter should actually be presented differently. According to this, inspection of the institute's accounting documents showed that the RMB had around 2.5 million euros in their commercial bank account and a transfer of 1.3 million euros to an RMB account with another via telebanking on the evening of July 14th Bank.

The question that is now being asked in view of the decided denials on the part of the country: Could it be that fake bookings are also involved? Answers will probably only bring the further investigation. Pucher and K. are accused, the presumption of innocence applies to both of them.

On Monday morning the governor described a report from the courier about the alleged last-minute transfer as a "lie". On Monday evening he then admitted in "Burgenland heute" that there had been a transfer attempt. He knows that from a conversation with the RMB managing director. According to the information provided by the Financial Market Authority, "there was no reference from members of the government to the RMB and no more opportunity to transfer money". The transfer should therefore not have been carried out.

Traces of devastation
Ex-bank boss Pucher and ex-manager K. have taken on responsibility for the malversations that initially led to the bank's closure and then to its bankruptcy. According to the bankruptcy petition, the over-indebtedness is around 530 million euros, and the institute's total assets were around 800 million euros. As the press reported in its Tuesday edition, around 690 million euros should be allocated to fictitious loans and invented credit. DER STANDARD had recently reported 600 million euros: According to the results of the investigation, there are around 500 fake accounts. Including around 427 million euros in invented Commerzialbank balances at major banks and more than 150 million euros in the form of loans to private customers - above all doctors.

According to the "Wiener Zeitung" on Tuesday, customers should have learned that they had higher bogus loans in addition to credit balances, especially when paying out through the deposit insurance, which has so far transferred 370 million euros to around 9,800 Commerzialbank customers. There were 30 to 40 such cases, said Stefan Tacke, managing director of the deposit insurance, the newspaper.

Sports sponsorship fouls

The traces of the devastation also run through the Burgenland sports landscape, and especially football, as one could say. Because the Commerzialbank sponsored the SV Mattersburg (ex-president: Pucher) and the ASV Draßburg (ex-president: Illedits), Illedits was also president of the Burgenland ASKÖ before he was also responsible for sport as a regional councilor. And like Pucher he sat on the board of directors of the football academy. The investigators' research now shows that sponsorship contracts have also been falsified. There have already been house searches.

As far as the commercial bank's economic success as owner is concerned, it was also modest. According to the most recent balance sheet in the commercial register, the Florianihof Betriebsgesellschaft (hotel) had negative equity of almost two million euros and debts of 2.6 million euros in 2017. There was no over-indebtedness in the sense of insolvency law because the Commerzialbank had verbally promised to compensate for the loss (two million euros). *

Destroyed glimmer of hope
Pucher is said to have repeatedly said that income from patents could save a little something in the bank; he meant a small stake in a green power company.

His hope was no longer fulfilled.