Doubts about suitability

“GDR farmers” now also face trouble in Germany

Is this garage still a garage?(Bild: zVg)

The buyer of the Saalfelden Hinterlehen estate has now called in the German authorities on suspicion of fraud. This means that he has to explain himself both in Austria and to his neighbors.

The controversial purchase of the Hinterlehen estate in Saalfelden has yet another facet to it. According to information from "Krone", the public prosecutor's office in Meiningen, Germany, is now likely to investigate the buyer. The suspicion: subsidy fraud in the neighboring country. There are also doubts there that the actual real estate investor was actually a farmer. A cooperation agreement with a sheep farmer on the former GDR pig fattening farm is likely to have been terminated after just one year. He is therefore likely to have provided proof of German farming qualifications in Austria and Austrian ones in Germany.

And subsidies are also said to have flowed as a result. "This is another piece of the puzzle that shows that the real estate investor does not shy away from unfair means. Such practices must be stopped," says Green Party member of parliament Simon Heilig-Hofbauer. As reported, the Land Transfer Commission in Salzburg recently reopened the proceedings. The objection period is still running. In the event of an unjust purchase, this could have to be reversed.

There are also question marks over the conversions and renovations that have already been carried out on the Pinzgau site, as there should be no permits for them.