For abuse of office

Mayor Simon Tschann found guilty

(Bild: Dorn Chantall)

The mayor of the Vorarlberg town of Bludenz, Simon Tschann (ÖVP), had to answer to the Feldkirch regional court on Wednesday morning for abuse of office. The head of the town was found guilty. The verdict is not final.

The mayor of Bludenz, Simon Tschann (ÖVP), was convicted of abuse of office at the Feldkirch provincial court on Wednesday. A panel of lay judges considered it proven that the 32-year-old granted a building permit for a residential complex in 2021, even though he knew that not all requirements were met. He received an eleven-month suspended prison sentence and a fine of 51,000 euros. The verdict is not final.

"I am absolutely astonished"
The verdict visibly affected the city boss. "I am absolutely astonished, I am still certain that I am not guilty," he told media representatives after the verdict was announced. His defense lawyer filed an appeal for annulment and an appeal. Tschann announced that he would remain in office and stand again in the Vorarlberg municipal and mayoral elections on March 16, 2025. "Of course" he will do so, he said. Tschann has been mayor of Vorarlberg's smallest town with around 15,000 inhabitants since fall 2020. If the prison sentence was twelve months, he would have automatically lost his office.

The 32-year-old was charged because in 2021, in his function as building authority of the first instance, he signed a building permit for a residential complex consisting of three buildings with 23 units, which apparently did not meet all legal requirements. The public prosecutor stated that criticism of the project by the official expert had been ignored and that the distance between the second building structure and the public traffic area was only 90 centimetres - the official expert had already been 2.5 meters too little. There had been no examination as to whether the project was in line with local standards and the official expert had never given his approval. "They wanted to force the project through," the public prosecutor stated.

Project approval called into question
Tschann was also accused of making false statements to the regional ombudsman and the district authority of Bludenz and faking the approval of the official expert. "To this end, a meeting was simply invented that never took place and in which the expert had given his approval," said the public prosecutor. According to Tschann and his defense lawyer, the meeting in question did indeed take place, but the date mentioned was a mistake. The jour fixe is said to have taken place on June 17, 2021 - two days after the construction hearing had been advertised. This would probably have been canceled if the project had not been given the green light at the Jour Fixe, according to Tschann.

For his part, the official expert said in court that there was no such thing as a "verbal approval" - as was rumored - in such a matter. He had only learned of such a release in April 2022. The city stated that it had failed to provide written documentation. On June 16, the Design Advisory Board still had concerns about the dimensions and design of the building structures. In its eyes, the project was "not approved" at the time.

An employee of the building law department who was involved in the matter at the time confirmed that "direct approval" had not been given by the official expert. Minor changes to the project had been made following the official expert's report on June 9, and at the meeting on June 17, everyone had the impression "that it fits".

City boss signs, does not check
As a matter of principle, Tschann emphasized that he does not check decisions submitted to him by the city administration, but merely signs them. "As soon as I receive the decision, I assume that the basis for it has been checked by my employees," said Tschann. This also applies to the statements made to the provincial ombudsman and the district authority. He had not read them, only signed them. In practice, with 150 building permits per year, this would not be possible otherwise. His lawyer also emphasized that a mayor is not subject to instructions and is not bound by expert opinions in his decisions.

It was precisely in the practice described by Tschann that the public prosecutor's office saw abuse of office. According to the public prosecutor in his plea, it did not matter whether the building permit had been issued rightly or wrongly. The decisive factor was that Tschann had neither examined the official expert's report nor the building permit. The defense stated in this regard: "If the mayor has to examine the content of a building permit, you won't find a mayor anymore." There are specialist departments for this.

Public prosecutor's office filed an appeal
In the reasons for the verdict, the judge followed the argumentation of the public prosecutor. "When you signed, you knew that there was a statement and points to be revised," he stated. He should have addressed this. "You are obliged to read a notice," said the judge. He also assumed that Tschann had indeed read it.

Ultimately, the head of the city was convicted of abuse of office and false certification in office. The probation period for the eleven-month prison sentence is three years. The 51,000 euro fine (300 daily rates of 170 euros) was based on the mayor's monthly net income of 7,000 euros. The public prosecutor's office also lodged an appeal.