FPÖ Secretary General

False corona certificates: Hafenecker charged

FPÖ Secretary General Christian Hafenecker in the COFAG-U committee(Bild: APA/ROLAND SCHLAGER)

FPÖ Secretary General Christian Hafenecker is alleged to have obtained forged Covid-19 certificates. The Vienna Public Prosecutor's Office (StA) has now charged the politician with data forgery. Hafenecker faces a prison sentence of up to one year.

The criminal complaint was filed at the beginning of April. Hafenecker did not wish to comment on it. The investigations into this case, in which other people are also involved, became known in the fall of 2022. According to research by "Standard" and "Presse", a chance discovery on the smartphone of former FPÖ MP Hans-Jörg Jenewein is likely to have started the case.

The certificates, which Hafenecker is said to have forged via a party colleague, were necessary during the coronavirus pandemic, for example to gain access to events or service providers. 

Issue still haunts us today
At the time, the FPÖ MP spoke of investigations that were directed against his party's policies and its activities in the U Committee. According to him, the allegations relate to a soccer match in Budapest on 23 May 2022, which he is said to have attended "with a valid PCR test". Hafenecker is known as a coronavirus vaccination denier.

The Freedom Party had vociferously opposed the Covid-19 measures and is still raising the issue today. Current posters for the EU elections refer to the "corona chaos".