Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz ensnared in corruption probe
- Austrian leader, close aides suspected of buying positive media coverage with taxpayer money
- The 35-year-old chancellor was already under investigation separately for perjury
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz and members of his inner circle were implicated in a sprawling corruption investigation that threatens to open a new chapter of political turbulence in the Alpine nation.
Offices at Kurz’s Chancellery and several other locations were raided on Wednesday.
The 35-year-old leader of Austria’s conservative People’s Party and others are under investigation for their alleged role in funnelling federal funds to a newspaper publisher to orchestrate his rise in government, according a 106-page legal document seen by Bloomberg, which summarises the investigation and was filed with a criminal court in Vienna.
Kurz rejected the allegations, and said they were falsely constructed by taking text messages out of context.
It’s the second investigation to involve Kurz within the last year. Last month, a judge questioned the chancellor about the veracity of statements he provided to parliamentary investigators looking into the collapse of his previous government. During five hours of questioning, Kurz said that any allegations of perjury were baseless.
Prosecutors are now probing messages shared between Kurz, his chief strategist and media advisers. The communications occurred from 2016, when Kurz was Austria’s foreign minister, and allegedly detail how polling data and stories were strategically placed in newspapers to facilitate his rise to power.