Vösendorf case

Trembling before the audit report: taxes, expenses & co.

The auditors also found high expense claims from local council leader Hannes Koza (ÖVP) in the Vösendorf municipal office.(Bild: Huber Patrick)

The anxious wait for the findings of the supervisory authority should be over in the Lower Austrian town of Vösendorf - the first details are revealing. 

Nine days before the early local council elections, there is a tense atmosphere in the town hall in Vösendorf, district of Mödling. The municipal supervisory authority's audit report is due to be completed on Friday and published next week.

On dozens of pages, it not only meticulously examines the "accounting affair" of ÖVP mayor Hannes Koza, but the inspectors also uncover other small and large political misconduct.

In principle, the auditors were required to examine the municipal finances retrospectively up to 2017, but the diligent officials from St. Pölten did not miss the opportunity to identify irregularities dating back to the last millennium. The first explosive details are available to the "Krone".

Missing documents from the last millennium
An entire district, namely the Seepark built in 1996, should not even exist according to the municipality's balance sheets. Taxes for development and the like, building permits and many other documents from the time of SPÖ local leader Meinhard Kronister are completely missing. The loss volume is now likely to amount to more than nine million euros. Municipal money that a mayor would probably have to collect after the election. Whether his name is Hannes Koza or not.

During the term of office of Meinhard Kronister (SPÖ) as mayor, it seems that the collection of various charges was "forgotten" in Vösendorf.(Bild: Pensionistenverband)

"Expenses Caesar" Koza or a Pyrrhic victory for the SPÖ
Another figure in the dossier is causing many people to break out in a sweat. Koza is said to have spent thousands of euros on expenses in less than four years. From donations to the fire department to plane tickets for trips to partner communities in Italy and Germany. Economical use of taxpayers' money might look different.

The fact is, SPÖ regional managing director Wolfgang Zwander already attested to Koza's "Caesar madness" in the run-up to the election and predicted his political Philippi. After the financial failures of his red predecessors, however, the Social Democrats could be in for a real Pyrrhic victory. Things could soon get uncomfortable for comrades in the Seepark district - especially with additional demands of 20,000 euros per household ...