According to the documents, between May 2016 and February 2019, Rüdisser received ten times 500 euros each from the Wirtschaftsbund, i.e. a total of 5,000 euros. “There were funds available for events for which costs were taken over,” he told the “Vorarlberger Nachrichten”. The Economic Association has regularly assumed costs for its officials. Tittler, who is said to have received 1,000 euros, justified himself in the same way. Rüdisser has been leading the Vorarlberg ÖVP business association since April 11 as an interim successor to the resigned Hans Peter Metzler. His task is to accompany the ongoing tax audit and, if necessary, to draw conclusions in the form of a changed organizational structure. According to the documents that have become public, the tax office is assuming a tax arrears of up to 1.3 million euros, Rüdisser has so far reckoned with 700,000 euros in the worst case.
Further cash payments totaling 4,500 euros are said to have gone to the Red Cross between 2018 and 2020. There are cash withdrawals with a corresponding note. However, the tax inspectors lack proof that the money actually went to the Red Cross organization. According to research by the “Vorarlberger Nachrichten” with reference to the management of the Red Cross Vorarlberg, no donations from the Economic Association were received there in the period in question. In these years, no extracurricular donations were made by individual members of the Economic Association as private individuals, it said.
In the Puls24 interview, NEOS boss Beate Meinl-Reisinger was “horrified” by the system created by the ÖVP in Vorarlberg and called for the resignation of ÖVP governor Markus Wallner. It is her “understanding of political responsibility that the state party chairman, state governor must take responsibility,” says Meinl-Reisinger: “He also says he knew it – what is he still waiting for?”
SPÖ federal director Christian Deutsch sees Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) in the drawing: “The turquoise swamp must be completely drained. Nehammer must take a stand on the scandalous machinations in his party.” The chancellor’s attempt to get by with this affair is no longer acceptable, said Deutsch.
Meanwhile, the opposition factions SPÖ, FPÖ and NEOS in the ÖVP corruption committee brought additional evidence requirements to the business association, as the “Vorarlberger Nachrichten” reported in a preliminary report. These are issued to all federal ministries, the Chamber of Commerce, the Austrian health insurance fund and the social insurance institution for the self-employed. The request was brought in on Thursday evening. All files and documents in connection with “advertisements in the newspaper of the Vorarlberger Wirtschaftsbund” must now be delivered within two weeks.