Fischer and Hochegger give their consent • NEWS.AT

During the trial for the bribery of two former lobbyists Peter Hochegger and Walter Meischberger and three former leaders of the state-owned Telekom Austria, the first day of the trial, the prosecution drew a moral picture of the funding of illegal parties by ÖVP, the SPÖ and the FPÖ. Four out of five accused have admitted their partial guilt, only Meischberger was not guilty.

Two former employees of Telekom accused hoping for a diversion, as had already received the former Minister of Transport, Hubert Gorbach (FPÖ / BZÖ). Judge Marion Hochenecker wants to decide soon.

The process was incorporated into the "Grbader procedure" around the privatization of Buwog on the 59th day of the trial. That remains for the moment, so that a large proportion of the accused do not currently have to appear before the District Court of the Vienna Straflandesgericht, even the former Minister of Finance Karl-Heinz Grbader (FPÖ / ÖVP) can to make a break.

The prosecution accuses the five accused of infidelity or money laundering. They reportedly used Telekom Austria from 2004 to early 2008 as an "outsourced self-service store," said the prosecutor. This should have resulted in a loss of nearly ten million euros for the telecoms, which still belong to a quarter of the state.

The two chief prosecutors, Gerald Denk and Alexander Marchart, began their plea for the defendants "to have, with some complacency, squandered the badets of the telecommunications sector." They would have "accessed with both hands". As an example of the damage done to Telekom, Denk is a flight from Meischberger and Fischer, who was participating in a golf tournament in Spain with a private plane, paid by the Telekom aboard the Valora. Cost: 12,000 euros.

While prosecutors are talking about an enrichment of the defendants, they were now trying to point out that they were traveling solely in the interest of their employer or were contracting with Telekom. Meischberger's lawyer in turn introduced his client – as in the "Grbader trial" – as the great communicator between the business world and politics, who had done nothing dishonest.

The "slush fund" of the Hochegger company, Valora, on which the transactions took place, today called on the defenders rather than "liquidity reserves", that this multi-billion dollar company should have with the public relations agency.

Senior prosecutors also gave examples of party funding and politicians. Thus, the SPÖ national councilor, Kurt Gartlehner, received 3,000 euros net each month for unclear advice for Hochegger.

"The ÖVP should not be neglected," says Denk. This ranged from the sponsorship of a football club to the former ÖVP former Finance Minister, Wilhelm Molterer, to the financial support of a high-level FCG trade unionist, as well as In the election campaign of a former member of the ÖVP. According to the Attorney General, the ÖVP voluntarily reimbursed the damage.

And money has also flowed for the FPÖ, for example for the politician Reinhart Gaugg of the time. The party newspaper of the FPÖ, "Neue Freie Zeitung", would have in turn received € 120,000 without justification.

Of the five accused to answer in the large hearing room of the Straflandesgericht Vienna, two have already been sentenced: Fischer and Hochegger. The former secretary general of the FPÖ, Meischberger, was acquitted of a real estate contract. Hochegger was sentenced to two years in 2016, including 16 in part because of infidelity. He was also the only one of the defendants in detention.

Fischer, who has been head of Telekom Austria for a long time and is retired, has been sentenced three times and has served his sentence ever since. In Causen, there were also bribes around the Telekom, once around the famous arms lobbyist Alfons Mensdorff-Pouilly.

In the afternoon, Judge Hohenecker questioned the first of the five accused. The former Christian trade union leader (FCG), who seeks to divert, said he made a mistake by accepting money through secret channels. After that, the accused formally declared that he had felt as a high representative of the Christian union affiliated with the ÖVP against colleagues of the FSG affiliated with the SPÖ at Telekom Austria disadvantaged and paid less. He then turned to the co-accused, Telekom's CEO, Rudolf Fischer. Hohenecker then wanted to know if he had turned to Fischer in his own agenda or that of his faction. As a result, the defendant made it clear that he was only concerned about his own payment. At that time, he had earned around € 3,700 net from Telekom and owned a company car. If he had been entitled to compensation, like his predecessor, he would still have about 800 euros a month. To compensate for this "loss", he recovered 138,000 euros in bills from Valora. "It was telecommunications money," and he had provided services for telecommunications, he argued. But today, he regrets that this is probably the biggest mistake of his life.

Judge Hohenecker wants to question tomorrow Wednesday, then the second defendant, the former director of telecommunications. He too is aiming for a diversion. Subsequently, the former fixed line telecom fisherman must be interviewed. The presenter's lawyer interviewed, the former Christian trade unionist Telekom, asked the judge if she wanted to comment this week on the request for misappropriation of his client. "Look mom," she said diplomatically. The former Leading Christcraft Union (FCG) is accused of money laundering.

There are several preconditions for diversion, namely the waiver of a criminal procedure against the payment of a fine or the settlement of an offense: it is an official offense prosecuted ex officio, the facts must be sufficiently clarified, no serious offense shall be committed and the accused may not have committed any serious offense. In addition, no prevention should be necessary, that is to say if a judicial sanction is not necessary to dissuade the accused from committing new criminal acts or to fight imitators. Finally, the accused must accept diversion and accept the consequences.

This week is always Wednesday and Thursday negotiated. Today, specific dates have been distributed until May 9, 2019. As a result, the month of January will be largely without bargaining, as the first appointment next year is scheduled for January 29th. According to the information available to us, 23 trial dates have been set in 2019, including two for any protocol correction.