FINANCIAL SCANDAL Exchange of blows between the SPÖ and ÖVP around Mattersburg Bank

Hans Peter Doskozil has already admitted that regional management Burgenland (RMB) had tried to withdraw money before the bank closed.

Photo: APA / Roland Schlager

In the case of Commerzialbank Mattersburg, the Burgenland SPÖ is shooting at an alleged "ÖVP network" around the bank. SPÖ state manager Roland Fürst formulated several questions about the People's Party on Tuesday and called on state party leader Christian Sagartz, who is also the district leader of the ÖVP in Mattersburg, to resign.

It has recently been known that there were "machinations and malversations from Mr. (Martin, note) Pucher - back then as the branch manager of a smaller Raiffeisen bank," said Fürst. When Raiffeisen wanted to examine the bank, the auditors were "denied access to the examination".

690 million euros in damage
At that time they wanted to depose Pucher. A former ÖVP functionary who continues to act as chairman of the supervisory board has spoken out "with the greatest vehemence". "Obviously, this ÖVP network already existed back then, which also protected Martin Pucher and his machinations. If you had reacted adequately at the time, we might have saved ourselves a lot of suffering," said Fürst.

According to media reports, damage of around 690 million euros is currently being assumed. The question is: "How does it come to this?" In the supervisory board of the Commerzialbank - the highest control body - sit "predominantly ÖVP functionaries". The co-chairman is "a high-ranking ÖVP-Wirtschaftsbund functionary". Former or current ÖVP councilors from the Mattersburg district also sit on the committee.

Mattersburg-ÖVP is said to have received 3,100 euros
Fürst now wants to know: "Who is this network and who has benefited from it?" The question is also: "Did the ÖVP supervisory boards know about the ban by the financial market supervisory authority in advance, and did they withdraw money? When and how much money?" The ÖVP in the Mattersburg district received 3,100 euros from the Commerzialbank. The question arises: "What was the consideration?"

"If Christian Sagartz were an SPÖ functionary, he would have had to resign long ago," said Prince. "These are his functionaries, who sit there on the board of the Commerzialbank, who are responsible for this criminal case." It is all the more grotesque that it is Sagartz who "runs from medium to medium and actually blackens everyone else".

Not only private funds affected
Fürst does not believe that governor Hans Peter Doskozil (SPÖ), as reported by the "Salzburger Nachrichten", was called at noon on July 14 by Pucher, who told him that he had resigned as bank director and that the bank was about to close , "because that's what the governor would probably have said". Doskozil admitted in an interview with ORF Burgenland that there had been an attempt by Regional Management Burgenland (RMB) to withdraw money.

The SPÖ politician defended the attempt by the Burgenland regional management to withdraw money shortly before the closure: "If that was the case, it would be the responsibility of a manager." It is not about private money, but about funding from Brussels. There have been rumors, "differently compressed", for a year.

The SPÖ have nothing against a committee of inquiry or a special state parliament on the banking issue, stressed club chairman Robert Hergovich: "On the contrary, I'm already looking forward to the special state parliament." The SPÖ will "show one thing or the other" in the next few days. And the SPÖ will present a legislative proposal in the next few days, which will essentially prohibit parties from accepting donations.

ÖVP: Doskozil should disclose phone logs
On Tuesday, the ÖVP put seven questions to Doskozil. If the head of the country does not remember exactly who he spoke to shortly before the bank closed, they demand disclosure of the telephone logs of Doskozil and his team for July 13th and 14th, according to ÖVP club chairman Markus Ulram.

With regard to media reports, the ÖVP wants to know why the governor concealed the fact that he personally learned from ex-bank director Pucher about the imminent closure of the bank, explained Ulram. The People's Party is also interested in what Doskozil did in the time after receiving information about the closure of the Pucher Commercial Bank (on July 14, note) from noon to midnight.

Fragenkatalog der ÖVP

Ulram warf weiters die Frage auf, ob der Landeshauptmann das RMB oder andere Institutionen beziehungsweise Personen nach dem Gespräch mit Pucher über die Schließung der Commerzialbank informiert habe. Die ÖVP erkundigt sich in ihrem Fragenkatalog auch noch, welche Unternehmen und Institutionen im Naheverhältnis des Landes versucht hätten, vor der Schließung der Bank Geld in Sicherheit zu bringen.

Das Interesse der ÖVP gilt auch eventuellen Konten der SPÖ Burgenland bei der Commerzialbank. Ferner wird Doskozil gefragt, ob er ausschließen könne, dass weitere SPÖ-Politiker aufgrund des Skandals zurücktreten müssten. Und schließlich will man vom Landeschef wissen, ob dieser als Finanzlandesrat über die Finanzabteilung den Prüfauftrag an die TPA Wirtschaftsprüfungs-GmbH erteilt habe.

Antworten der ÖVP

Auf die Frage, ob er ausschließen könne, dass die ÖVP in die Geldbewegungen kurz vor Schließung der Bank involviert gewesen sei, sagte Ulram: "Klares Ja. Die ÖVP war in keinster Weise hier involviert." Ob er auch ausschließen könne, dass von der ÖVP nahestehenden Personen Insiderinfos geflossen seien? Die Volkspartei habe niemanden in den Aufsichtsrat entsandt, so Ulram. Ob "jemand im Aufsichtsrat oder der Vorsitzende" Geld verschoben habe, könne er "so nicht beantworten".

"Tatsache ist, jede einzelne Person, die sich irgendwo etwas zuschulden kommen hat lassen, muss selbstverständlich – egal wer das ist – Konsequenzen daraus tragen. Das ist völlig klar", sagte Ulram. "Zum heutigen Stand meines Wissens" könne er "ausschließen, dass ein ÖVP-Politiker einen Goldbarren erhalten hat". Die Volkspartei habe alle Geld- und Sachleistungen offengelegt, die sie in den vergangenen fünf Jahren erhalten habe: "Da reden wir von einem sehr kleinen Betrag, von rund 6.585 Euro gesamt." (APA, 4.8.2020)

ÖVP questionnaire
Ulram also raised the question of whether the governor had informed the RMB or other institutions or persons about the closure of the commercial bank after talking to Pucher. In its questionnaire, the ÖVP also asks which companies and institutions close to the country tried to bring money to safety before the bank was closed.

The ÖVP is also interested in possible SPÖ Burgenland accounts at the Commerzialbank. Doskozil was also asked whether he could rule out that other SPÖ politicians would have to resign due to the scandal. And finally, you want to know from the head of the state whether he, as the financial state councilor, has issued the audit order to TPA Wirtschaftsprüfungs-GmbH through the finance department.

Answers from the ÖVP
When asked whether he could rule out that the ÖVP was involved in the money movements shortly before the bank closed, Ulram said: "A clear yes. The ÖVP was in no way involved here." Can he also rule out that insider information has flowed from people close to the ÖVP? The People's Party did not send anyone to the supervisory board, according to Ulram. Whether "someone on the supervisory board or the chairman" had moved money, he could "not answer that".

"The fact is, every single person who has been guilty of something somewhere, must of course - regardless of who it is - suffer the consequences. That is completely clear," said Ulram. "As far as I know today," he can "rule out the possibility that an ÖVP politician has received a gold bar". The People's Party has disclosed all cash and non-cash benefits that it has received over the past five years: "We're talking about a very small amount, around € 6,585 in total." (APA, August 4th, 2020)