On Monday a house search, on Tuesday the extension of the investigation by the Vienna public prosecutor’s office to include serious fraud – infidelity and favoritism had already been discussed before that. In the Vienna Medical Association, the cause of grievances in the company “Equipment for Ordination” (E4O) grows into an affair.
The suspicion of fraud goes back to a statement of facts by CS Diagnostics GmbH, which “was granted a loan of one million euros” for a (supposed) transaction with the Vienna Health Association (WGV), according to the search warrant. A manager from E4O who has now been accused is said to have “falsely and repeatedly pretended to be the representative of the WGV”.
allegations against Steinhart
The affair was made public by Erik Randall Huber, Chairman of the Curia, whose daughter was the now-defunct E4O. Huber also linked the President of the Vienna and Austrian Medical Associations, Johannes Steinhart, to the cause. Steinhart was the head of the curia at the time of the grievances. Three suspects have stated that they acted on Steinhart’s instructions or with his approval.
Steinhart’s VP-affiliated “Association of Austrian Doctors” has already tabled a motion of no confidence in Huber. Because a second one could lead to success today, the public prosecutor’s office fears that an “organized cover-up action by the president and his political supporters” is underway. This would be linked to the “acute danger that further evidence will soon be destroyed or made inaccessible”.
