Grasser: The mother-in-law did not tolerate any contradiction

Grasser is admitted to the allegations of the prosecution that he allegedly accepted bribes on the privatization of federal housing and the leasing of financing to an office building in Linz. The specific allegations in the indictment are the acceptance of gifts by officials, the falsification of evidence and the provision of infidelity. If he is found guilty, Grasser incurs a maximum penalty of ten years imprisonment. Principal defendant rejects allegations of the Office of the Prosecutor for the Economy and Corruption

In July, three days of trial are scheduled (17, 18 and 19 July) and a hearing is also scheduled for 1 August. Then there is a long interruption of the process until it resumes on September 18th.

Up to now, ten accused have been interviewed: Lobbyist Peter Hochegger was the first accused to speak on December 20, 2017, the sixth day of the trial. He made a partial confession and accused in Grasser and Meischberger. From January 24, the former boss of Immofinanz, Karl Petrikovics, sat on the "hot seat" and was interviewed. He charged the co-defendant, former banker Raiffeisen, Georg Starzer. Starzer was questioned from February 13, he rejected all allegations and pointed out that he had not reached agreement with Hochegger on the million commission.

The Chronology

From 21. February was then the former manager of Immofinanz Christian Thornton with the tour of investigation. He had paid the million commission to Hochegger, but sees himself only as a messenger and "Rechenknecht" in the name of Petrikovics.

On 28. February the 21st trial, the treatment of the "Linzer Causa" for a payment of 200,000 euros as part of the construction of the office building "Terminal Tower" – according to the prosecution also bribes Grasser. During this procedure, five defendants – of whom the APA does not name the name for reasons of personal protection – were questioned, namely the former leaders of the construction group Porr, Raiffeisen Leasing and Real Treuhand, a subsidiary of RLB-OO

. April the 29th day of the trial, began the investigation of Walter Meischberger, former trading partner of Hochegger, former FPÖ politician and Grasser's best man. Since Meischberger used the entire first day of his own consistent opinion on the charges, Judge Hohenecker was unable to start on April 24, the 30th trial, with the actual detailed investigation.

Grasser came only on 19. June the 41st day of the trial, for the first time in detail. He took the opportunity to make a consistent statement in which he asserted his innocence. On June 20 and 21, he was questioned by Judge Hohenecker. The ex-finance minister pointed out that he had not informed Meischberger of the procurement procedure for federal housing. He knew nothing of his consulting work, which Meischberger claimed to have provided for more than 7 million euros. The joint legal appointments with Meischberger, he explained that he had wanted to inform.

Not yet consulted were the former Meischberger lawyer, Gerald Toifl, the former financial adviser to Grasser, Norbert Wicki and the real estate agent and former chairman of the supervisory board of Buwog Ernst Karl Plech . Although Plech was present at the beginning of the process, it has not come to the negotiations for months. He is unable to negotiate for health reasons.

From the beginning of the trial, unable to negotiate for health reasons and therefore absent, the co-defendant Raiffeisenlandesbank-Oberösterreich-Director General Ludwig Scharinger

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