ÖVP not reported

Sausage stand affair: FPÖ takes the edge off

The night-time sausage stand affair in Graz continues to cause a stir.(Bild: Christian Jauschowetz)

Has the FPÖ in Styria actually denounced its coalition partner ÖVP? It's about an explosive tape recording in the blue financial affair that has been blazing for years. The Freedom Party itself is now taking the heat out of the debate. 

The sausage stand affair in Graz is back on the political agenda. One April night last year, an explosive tape was made at the aforementioned Frankfurter stand on the main square, recorded by KFG leader Alexis Pascuttini and three colleagues from the "corruption-free municipal council club", on which the former finance officer of the FPÖ Graz, Matthias Eder, makes remarkable statements in a drunken state.

Eder practically recants his confession that he once single-handedly embezzled 710,000 euros in FPÖ party funds: "Of course it wasn't just me!" However, he later retracted this statement. Investigations into the financial scandal surrounding the FPÖ Graz (a total of almost two million euros in funding is believed to have gone missing) have been ongoing for more than three years, with more than a dozen people - including various side threads - listed as defendants. In addition to Eder, however, the focus is on former deputy mayor Mario Eustacchio and former club boss Armin Sippel - all of whom are presumed innocent.

Charges against Alexis Pascuttini
Now the ominous tape recording is once again making the rounds in the media: the FPÖ leadership reportedly filed a complaint against Pascuttini with the public prosecutor's office in Klagenfurt last fall (i.e. before the state elections). The latter is said to have claimed that he wanted to sell his explosive tape recording to the ÖVP. The public prosecutor's office lists the KFG man as a defendant in this matter. Pascuttini rejects the accusation.

The fact that the ÖVP is also being indirectly accused with the statement of facts is currently making headlines. However, the Freedom Party - which is, after all, in a coalition with the Black Party - sharply rejects this. Their lawyer, Johann Pauer, told the "Krone" newspaper: "There is no evidence that the Styrian ÖVP is involved in the scandal!" The white-green government peace holds.