Brucknerhaus scandal

Linz ÖVP leader backs city councillor

Doris Lang-Mayerhofer is heavily implicated in the LIVA case. Support is now coming from the Linz ÖVP leader.(Bild: FOTOKERSCHI.AT / KERSCHBAUMMAYR)

Doris Lang-Mayerhofer, Linz's City Councillor for Culture, who has come under fire in the LIVA scandal, feels she has been wrongly attacked. After a day of shock, her party leader in the Linz ÖVP, Martin Hajart, has now also spoken out. The accusation that Lang-Mayerhofer was "corrupt" was "the lowest drawer".

One day after the "Krone" revealed another bombshell in the case surrounding the now dismissed Brucknerhaus artistic director Dietmar Kerschbaum, the Linz SPÖ is now lashing out at City Councillor for Culture Doris Lang-Mayerhofer (ÖVP). As reported, the auditing firm KPMG found that the very company in which the city councillor and deputy chairwoman of the LIVA supervisory board holds a 50 percent stake was awarded the contract for renovation work in the Brucknerhaus foyer in 2019 - without the necessary tender.

Linz SPÖ: "Hajart bears the responsibility"
"I am shocked that attempts are now being made to divert attention from the actual Brucknerhaus scandal with unfounded accusations against me personally," said Lang-Mayerhofer in response to the audit report. For the Linz SPÖ, these statements are "protective allegations and untruths". They see an "ÖVP corruption scandal". SPÖ city councillor Dietmar Prammer: "The massive compliance violations are a moral declaration of bankruptcy. The political responsibility for this lies with ÖVP Linz chairman Martin Hajart."

Hajart sees "dirt bucket dispute"
After a day of shock, the deputy mayor of Linz now shoots back: "The SPÖ accusation that city councillor Lang-Mayerhofer is corrupt is devoid of any reality and is the lowest drawer. I stand behind her." Hajart went on to say that he did not want to be drawn into "this dirty bucket dispute". Rather, it is about "getting the Brucknerhaus out of the negative headlines again - in Anton Bruckner's 200th anniversary year, mind you".