BAT Committee: Tension before Kickl's answers

Of course, the Minister of the Interior is not new. After all, over the last nine months, he had to answer questions about the case involving the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the Fight against Terrorism (BVT) during three special sessions. and a "normal" meeting of the National Council. At the first urgent inquiry, Kickl only needed 18 minutes to complete his statement, including the welcome and farewell speeches, 23 for the second, 25 for the third and 26 minutes for the fourth.

In addition, he has already been the Federal Council and has responded to the case of state protection confessed. Also in writing, the department head continued his oral staccato. We have just answered four questions from the opposition, four others including the four witnesses are still waiting. The fact that Kickl's statements do not always coincide with those of witnesses and witnesses in the U Committee is probably the focus of the SPÖ, NEOS and Now. The FPÖ, which has so far focused on accusations against BVT representatives in the U Committee, will support the ministers.

No questions of Amon

The leader of the faction, Werner Amon, a partner of the ÖVP coalition, will not ask Kickl anything but "only" MEP Gaby Schwarz. A report by the Kronen Zeitung was confirmed Monday by a spokesman, according to APA. He stated that he had decided "for tactical reasons" not to question the Minister of the Interior.

Amon has repeatedly criticized the role of the Ministry of the Interior in the BAT case – and upset the coalition partner. Thus, he recently criticized the Ministry of the Interior for a new "brutal approach": "Chaos should be generated, which serves as a pretext for" cleansing "." The head of the FPÖ and Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache had previously retired from the Committee Requests party because he is "visibly biased".

Contradictions to interpret

Lately, the Secretary General of the Ministry of the Interior, Peter Goldgruber, and his right hand man, Udo Lett, have given two well-known names to the U Committee. Goldgruber and Lett have had several contacts with three of the four witnesses who spoke the Office of the Prosecutor for Economic Affairs and Corruption (WKStA) on "maladministration" in the BAT. The accusation of "goldgruber and witness delivery service witnesses" Lett back. Former BVT officials were contacted on their own initiative. After that, they acted properly, said Goldgruber.

After the interrogation, the opposition and the ÖVP found contradictions. For example, Lett did not call the first witness, Ursula-Ria P., but she and he called her back. Or that Lett had contacts with the fourth witness, Christian MM himself confirmed that "with regard to the witness's hearing," Kickl's answer in his July question stated "that he there had been no contact with the Cabinet or the staff of the Secretary-General ". "If you see the information about the witness being charged as a contact, it is a contact," said Mr. during his interrogation before the U. Committee.

A contradiction that could lead to the first confrontation of two witnesses from the history of U committees can be found between Goldgruber's memoirs and BVT Director Peter Gridling. This is the extremist section of the BVT, which was also affected by the end of February raid. A month before the house search, on January 29, Goldgruber received the head of the BAT in his office, in anticipation of the meeting of the National Security Council (theme: Nazi / Germania / Udo Landbauer). Goldgruber should have searched for information on undercover investigators in the field of right-wing extremism.

Clash with Goldgruber and Gridling?

In his communication to the Subcommittee on 6 November, the Secretary General of the Department of the Interior denied having asked the questions in this way. He could exclude that "there was a correspondence from me that would have been relevant in any way," Goldgruber said. But he could not rule out that a question be understood this way. Just one day after this statement, Gridling responded, confirming a question about secret investigators. He then communicated these questions and five other questions by telephone to his deputy, who in turn sent an e-mail to the responsible unit.

That it is a showdown, finally decides, the chair of the U committee, Doris Bures (SPÖ). Under the rules of procedure, questions can be addressed to both respondents in this comparison. Interior Minister Kickl is due to comment on preparations for Tuesday's National Security Council. Like others, he is Director of Public Safety, Michaela Kardeis, on the board. Kardeis is interviewed by Kickl by U committee members and is also present at the Goldgrubers office on January 29th.

Kickl indirectly skipped his secretary general in early October. The request, which also included information on fraternity investigations, was made "on behalf of the SPÖ," said Kickl. As a result of the Nova Scotia Song Book business, the SPÖ called the National Security Council and asked for information on the "far right situation in Austria". The SPÖ rejected Kickl's testimony. The Minister of the Interior would not have been able to respond anyway because of the protection of the source, the SPÖ said.

Meeting in the premises of the FPÖ

In addition to this request, it will likely be a meeting between Goldgruber, Lett and Kickl with the prosecution witness and the former subject leader of the BVT, P. topic. P., on leave since September 2017 and questioned by the prosecution on February 21, 2018, wanted to talk to BAT with the department head early in the year. On February 20, according to Lett, the conversation would have taken place in the halls of the FPÖ club.

"Originally, it was the Ministry of the Interior, but it was then moved very quickly to these premises for scheduling reasons," Lett said. The stressful Tester P., who spoke in front of the Subcommittee of Bullying, Power Play and Abuse of Power under state protection, said that she had met Lett, Kickl and Goldgruber in the "Cabinet Office". The Minister of the Interior then left the office after "about five to seven minutes".

Until now, Kickl has rejected the allegations of the opposition. The prosecution had decided to search his home. There was also no "investigative pressure" on the part of the Interior Department, Kickl said. The prosecutor in charge, Ursula Schmudermayer, also agreed. The FPÖ feels confirmed, the opposition wants to prove the opposite. The political groups have four hours in total to answer their questions.