[Domestic Policy] Ibizagate - The unanswered Questions and the Suspects 2019-06-05

The Public Prosecutors Office
Rene Benko and why it was a Political Assassination
Where does the Video come from
The Suspects

Tal Silberstein and the SPÖ
Center for Political Beauty
Jan Böhmermann
Intelligence Services

The FPÖ and Israel
The FPÖ, Russia and the transatlantic lobby

The open Questions

Ibizagate caused the fission of the coalition of ÖVP and FPÖ in Austria. The presentation of the now former Austrian Vice-Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache (FPÖ) provides an invitation for all critics. The recordings of Strache (FPÖ) with belly, tight T-shirt, vodka, Red Bull, blonde female accompaniment and macho posturing will make Strache (FPÖ) be the target for several times to come. [1] [2] [3] [4] [4,alt]

Wenn das Medium zwei, drei Wochen vor der Wahl, wenn dieses Medium auf einmal uns pusht, dann hast du recht. Dann machen wir nicht 27, dann machen wir 34 Prozent.

If the medium two or three weeks before the election, if this medium pushes us at once, then you're right. Then we do not do 27, then we make 34 percent.

Heinz-Christian Strache (FPÖ) [4,1m25s]

Aber es muss trotzdem immer rechts-konform, legal und mit unserem Programm übereinstimmen.

But it still has to be legally compliant, legal and compatible with the program.

Heinz-Christian Strache (FPÖ) [4,3m0s]

In July 2017 and before the national election of 2017 Heinz-Christian Strache (FPÖ) and Johann Gudenus (FPÖ) met with an alleged niece of the Russian oligarch Igor Makarow in Ibiza.
Strache (FPÖ) and Gudenus (FPÖ) talk for 6 hours with the alleged niece how they could invest money so that it benefits the FPÖ in the election campaign. Gudenus (FPÖ) translates German-Russian and Russian-German.
One suggestion is to buy a part of the Austrian newspaper Kronen Zeitung so that it reports in the sense of the FPÖ. Strache (FPÖ) expects better election results for the FPÖ.
Strache (FPÖ) offers public contracts for road construction in return.
Strache (FPÖ) however assures that everything is to be legally compliant, legal and compatible with the program of the FPÖ.
The story was published by the German newspapers Spiegel and Süddeutsche Zeitung.

[1] [2] [3] [4] [4,alt]

Schau, dann sind wir genau beim Thema Strabag, Autobahnen. Du, das Erste in einer Regierungsbeteiligung, was ich heute zusagen kann, ist: Der Haselsteiner (Anmerkung: Hans-Peter Haselsteiner ist Mitbesitzer von Strabag) kriegt keine Aufträge mehr. So, dann haben wir ein Riesenvolumen an infrastrukturellen Veränderungen. Wenn da eine Qualität da ist und ein qualitativer Anbieter da ist, bin ich der Erste, der sagt: Dann soll sie nämlich eine Firma wie die Strabag gründen, weil alle staatlichen Aufträge, die jetzt die Strabag kriegt, kriegt sie dann.

Look then we are exactly on the subject Strabag highways. You, the first in government participation, what I can promise today is: Haselsteiner (Note: Hans-Peter Haselsteiner is co-owner of Strabag) gets no more orders. So then we have a huge volume of infrastructural changes. If there's a quality and a quality supplier I'm the first to say: Then she's supposed to set up a company like Strabag, because all the government orders that Strabag gets now, she gets.

Heinz-Christian Strache (FPÖ) [4,alt,3m5s]

According to Strache (FPÖ) the woman had contacted Gudenus (FPÖ) before the summer of 2017. She introduced herself as a Latvian citizen and niece of the Russian oligarch Igor Makarov. As a result a relationship of trust has developed. And Strache (FPÖ) itself denies that something illegal has happened and apologizes for inappropriate remarks that have fallen after much alcohol in a private conversation. Strache (FPÖ) was lured under false pretenses, supplied with alcohol and secretly filmed for six-hour to later release a few minutes. The editor-in-chief of the Süddeutsche Zeitung Kurt Kister describes the passages which have not yet been publicly shown as revealing, disgusting and quite pitiful sequences but most of them are of private nature. [5] [6]

According to the video at least two cameras were hidden. And for both the image detail, focus and focal lengths could be adjusted. So a person must have followed and controlled the recordings.

The Public Prosecutors Office

The German newspaper Bild then published an interview with the Austrian Chancellor Kurz (ÖVP). In this Kurz (ÖVP) does not exclude criminal consequences. [7,de] [7,en] [8]

However the Austrian Public Prosecutor's Office does not see any evidence of criminal behavior from Strache (FPÖ). According to the Austrian Public Prosecutor's Office the previously published material does not even deliver sufficent material for an initial suspicion. [9] [10] This results in a very disunited coalition as both the Austrian Public Prosecutor's Office and Strache (FPÖ) demand the publication of the entire video. The Austrian Public Prosecutor's Office wants to check whether they can initiate investigations against Strache (FPÖ) and Strache (FPÖ) wants to prove his innocence with the publication. However the German newspapers Spiegel and Süddeutsche Zeitung refuse the publication on the grounds that private chats do not belong to the public. It inevitably raises the question of why the publication of the entire video is denied or what is risked. [11] [12]

In addition the recordings are legally not safe. On the one hand Strache (FPÖ) did not do what he suggested on the recordings and Strache (FPÖ) asserted in the recordings however that everything should be legally compliant legal and compatible with the program of the FPÖ. The recording and publication of non-public spoken word to third parties is a punishable offence in Germany this is described in the paragraph 201 penal code. In addition the trap did not simply depict reality but created a reality thus Strache (FPÖ) is morally but not legally guilty. [13] The data protection officer of Baden-Württemberg Stefan Brink has also criticized the recordings. According to Brink the media have committed criminal wrongdoing with the recordings. [14] [15] [16]

Rene Benko and why it was a Political Assassination

After the recordings were published Strache (FPÖ) stepped down on May 17, 2019 as Vice Chancellor and party chairman of the FPÖ. And on May 18, 2019 Chancellor Kurz (ÖVP) announced the dismissal of Minister of the Interior Herbert Kickl (FPÖ) whereupon all FPÖ ministers resigned their offices and thus ended the coalition. Even here skepticism is appropriate as the Interior Minister Kickl (FPÖ) was not dismissed because he was involved in the affair but because Kurz (ÖVP) has missed the necessary sensitivity from him. In response on May 27, 2019 a motion of no confidence took place against Chancellor Kurz (ÖVP) that he lost after which Chancellor Kurz (ÖVP) and his cabinet were voted out by the National Council. On May 27, 2019 the non-party Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl was voted out as a result of motion of no confidence. Kneissl was proposed by the FPÖ but did not resign on May 18, 2019 with the FPÖ ministers. [17] [18]

Judging from this reaction it can be assumed that not only the recordings of Strache (FPÖ) were decisive but that it is a political assassination. For one thing the FPÖ was only partially in opposition regarding one of its core issues namely immigration. In December 2018 the ÖVP and FPÖ coalition decided to expand the shortage list that are jobs in which the supply of workers is considered too low. This has broadened the immigration of workers and increased pressure on the labor market and wages. [19] [20]

Secondly Kurz (ÖVP) has already done what Strache (FPÖ) has proposed in Ibiza without any criticism. The real estate investor Rene Benko is a consultant to Kurz (ÖVP) in economic matters and its Signa Holding GmbH has bought the courier and the most prominent newspaper in Austria the Kronen Zeitung. In November 2018 Signa Holding acquired 49% of WAZ Auslands Holding GmbH. And since WAZ Auslands Holding GmbH owns half of the Kronen Zeitung and just under half of the Kurier Signa Holding GmbH of Benko acquired 24.22% of the Kurier and 24.5% of the Kronen Zeitung. [21] [22] [23] [24]

Benko is one of the rich financiers of the election campaign of the ÖVP. This coincides with the statement of Strache (FPÖ). In the recordings from Ibiza Strache (FPÖ) said that Benko donates for the ÖVP. [25] [26]

Benko was convicted on 2 November 2012 at the Vienna Regional Court together with his tax adviser Michael Passer for attempted intervention (bribery). The court found that in 2009 on behalf of Benko Passer contacted former Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader and offered him 150,000 euros to influence a case pending in Italy in his favor. [25] [26] [27] The ruling was upheld by the Higher Regional Court on August 13, 2013 and by the Supreme Court on August 11, 2014 after Benko filed a complaint. [28] [29] [30]

And the relationship of Kurz (ÖVP) and Benko was exemplified in the transaction of a real estate business as Addendum revealed. In a hasty campaign at the turn of the year 2017 to 2018 the main building of the Leiner-Kika furniture company in Vienna Mariahilferstraße was sold for 60 million Euro to Benko after the then battered Kika Leiner furniture company had to sell a luxury property to avert a looming bankruptcy. To end the business as quickly as possible Chancellor Kurz (ÖVP) and Minister of Justice Josef Moser (ÖVP) even unlocked the competent district court and summoned a senior official from vacation during the Christmas holidays. In this way a subsidiary of the private foundation of Benko could be registered as the new owner of the property before an offer of 90 million euros for the property worth 95 million euros was considered. In this way Benko received with the help of Kurz (ÖVP) a property worth 95 million euros for just 60 million euros. [31] [32] [33]

Where does the Video come from

However there is still the question who has placed the trap over which Strache (FPÖ) and with him the coalition of ÖVP and FPÖ has stumbled. The lawyer Ramin Mirfakhrai from Vienna is said to have made the first contact with Strache (FPÖ) and Gudenus (FPÖ) after the father of Gudenus (FPÖ) died in September 2016 and the family wanted to sell some of their land and Mirfakhrai claimed to know a Latvian that seeks such property and wants to move with her children to Austria. According to Gudenus (FPÖ) there was a first meeting near the Stephansplatz in the office of Mirfakhrai. Here Mirfakhrai also submitted a passport to the Latvian and as evidence of its ability to pay a proof that the Latvian has already deposited a sum of money into a trust account of Mirfakhrai. And the meeting in Ibiza came about because Strache (FPÖ) and Gudenus (FPÖ) claimed that the Latvian would happen to be there at the same time. [34] [35] [36] [37] [38]

The lawyer Ramin Mirfakhrai from Vienna claims to be responsible for the action and describes it as a civic motivated project in which investigative journalistic paths were taken which subsequently developed a momentum of its own. [39] [40] [41] The Kronen newspaper in addition reports that a private investigator and two other security experts should have been involved in the action. These are said to have organized a real casting for the actress of the oligarchs niece. And the photos were sold for 600,000 euros in Krugerrand gold coins which were divided by the four masterminds. [42] [43] In view of this supposedly gapless explanation however it should be noted that the issuing or forgery of passports as well as the technical and organizational knowledge required to intercept persons do not belong to the law studies. So it remains open who exactly supplied the costs, the staff and other resources.

The Suspects

Tal Silberstein and the SPÖ

Tal Silberstein was suspected to be behind the recordings several times. The shots could come from the so-called "Dirty-Campaigning" Affair of 2017. The SPÖ has commissioned Silberstein to campaign against Kurz (ÖVP). However there were disagreements and disputes until the campaign ended just in time when the recordings were made in Ibiza and were maybe the step too far. In this case the recordings would have disappeared into the drawer which only works to a limited extent in the case of digital recordings. [44] [45] [46]

And as a client for Silberstein is really only the SPÖ in question since he has worked for the SPÖ in the past and it is questionable who else can afford Silberstein. However Silberstein denies any involvement. [47] [48] If the SPÖ commissioned the recordings but did not use them, then they could only use the recordings to end the coalition of ÖVP and FPÖ from the outside. And this fits because the SPÖ has voted in the motion of no confidence against Kurz (ÖVP). The SPÖ could thus have bet on a better election result and/or the prestige gain for ending a coalition opposed to the SPÖ. However the SPÖ was in the past and will probably in the future enter a coalition with the ÖVP. And if the recordings came from Silberstein and were not released then because they were the step too far. Thus Tal Silberstein and the SPÖ qualify for the recordings but less for the publication of the recordings.

Center for Political Beauty

Striking is in connection with the recordings of Ibiza the Center of Political Beauty (Zentrum für politische Schönheit). The Center for Political Beauty (Zentrum für politische Schönheit) keeps coming up with its actions. The reason is that the Twitter account "Kurzschluss14" (Short Circuit 14) was created shortly before the release of the recordings on May 18, and has published more parts of the six-hour video and the Center for Political Beauty should have been the first subscriber. So the Center for Political Beauty could have had previous knowledge. [49] [50] [51] The Center for Political Beauty (Zentrum für politische Schönheit) however denies a participation. [52] With a participation of the Center for Political Beauty (Zentrum für politische Schönheit) the affair would have gained in reach. See: Center for Political Beauty

Jan Böhmermann

Striking is in connection with the recordings of Ibiza is also the German satirist Jan Böhmermann. In April Böhmermann in a welcoming speech for the awarding of the Austrian television prize Romy told he is "just coked up pretty much and fueled with Red Bull with some FPÖ business friends in a Russian oligarchy villa in Ibiza" and negotiates the acquisition of the Kronen Zeitung. But he was "not allowed to talk about it yet". So Böhmermann definitely had previous knowledge. This was meanwhile confirmed by its manager Peter Burtz. However Burtz denies a participation of Böhmermann. And Burtz did not know where Böhmermann knew about the recordings before. [53] [54] [55] In any case the affair with Jan Böhmermann has gained in reach.

Intelligence Services

August Hanning (President of the Federal Intelligence Service/Bundesnachrichtendienst, 1998-2005) said that there is an obvious attempt to manipulate elections. [56] Rudolf Adam (Vice President Federal Intelligence Service/Bundesnachrichtendienst, 2001 - 2004) explained that the production of the recordings suggests that it was not the work of journalists but that professional intelligence agents were at work since the action was prepared and carried out with great financial and organizational effort. Adam considers European intelligence services to be too tame and believes that the US is busy with North Korea, Iran and China, that the Russians see a well-meaning partner in the FPÖ and that China lacks interest in Austria. [57]

The FPÖ and Israel

Adam suspects the Israeli Mossad because no European intelligence service could and is allowed do anything similar and that Israel is critical towards the FPÖ and that many Russian oligarchs are descended from Jewish families and have close ties with Israel. Israel has a vital interest in Europe pursuing a friendly policy towards Israel. But Adam undermines his own reasoning because one does not have to find a fake niece of an oligarch, if one can have a real one. [57]

However it remains that the members of the FPÖ are always suspected of having an ideological proximity with Nazis or neo-Nazis. And the relationship between the FPÖ and Israel is mixed Israel distrusts the FPÖ and higher politicians usually boycott the FPÖ. [58] [59] [60] However the FPÖ and Strache have repeatedly sought reconciliation with Israeli politics. [61] [62] [63]

A particular approach is if it is alleged that the FPÖ allegedly proves ist hatred of Jews with their criticism of George Soros. Because Soros is also unpopular among Israeli politics and especially Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Likud). [64] [65] [66] [67]

The FPÖ, Russia and the transatlantic lobby

Other but little to no mentioned suspects are the German Federal Intelligence Service (Bundesnachrichtendienst/BND) and the transatlantic lobby. The FPÖ represents a deliberately Russian-friendly policy. As members of the FPÖ were in 2014 as election observers in Crimea durin the referendum on the unification of Crimea with Russia. [68] [69] [70] In December 2016 the FPÖ signed an agreement on cooperation with the governing party United Russia. In it both agreed to regularly discuss current issues on the situation in Russia and Austria and to exchange views in the areas of party building youth policy and legislation. [71] After the incident with Sergei Skripal in March 2018 several countries asked Russian diplomats to leave the country. At this time however there was already the coalition of the ÖVP and the FPÖ in charge which had refused to expell Russian diplomats. Within the EU Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal, Slovenia and Slovakia have also refrained from expelling Russian diplomats. [72] [73] [74]

In June 2018 it became known that the German Federal Intelligence Service (Bundesnachrichtendienst/BND) spied on almost 2,000 Austrian destinations (selectors) in the form of phone connections, mobile numbers, E-Mail addresses and also fax connections from 1999 on and at least until 2006. At first it seemed as if the Federal Intelligence Service (Bundesnachrichtendienst/BND) on behalf of the Americans was active until it turned out that the decision had been made in the German Chancellery. The reason for the spying could have been the first coalition of ÖVP and FPÖ after the National Council elections in 1999 and the assessment of the then German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder (SPD). The incident was strongly condemned by the government in Austria. [75]

In mid-March 2019 it was announced that the President of the German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz/BfV) Thomas Haldenwang sees considerable risks in intelligence cooperation with Austria. The reason for this is the suspicion that Austria receives secret information from actual partner countries such as Germany and could possibly pass it on to Russia. Thus Haldenwang is said to have expressed in the parliamentary control committee of the German Bundestag. [76] And at the end of March 2019 the German government went against the company of a possible mastermind of the Ibiza affair. The company Konsic GmbH was requested to refrain from mentioning the German Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI) or the German Federal Office of Criminal Investigation (BKA) as a client. [77]

The transatlantic lobby with its many members in the German federal government could therefore be involved in the affair. With its opposition to Russia and the rapprochement of Austria with Russia by the FPÖ it had a motive. Most recently the magnitude of the transatlantic lobby was revealed with the Integrity Initiative. See:
Integrity Initiative , Transatlantic Lobbies

The biggest flaw of this theory was that the non-party Secretary of State Karin Kneissl remained in office. During the crisis in Venezuela Kneissl emphasized that Austria recognizes states and not governments while Kurz (ÖVP) wanted to recognize the illegitimately self-proclaimed transitional president Juan Guaido. And Kneissl sharply criticized the US exit from the Iran nuclear agreement and the INF treaty. [78] [81,Art.233] [82] After the dismissal of Minister of the Interior Herbert Kickl (FPÖ) all the ministers of the FPÖ but not Kneissl withdrew in solidarity with him and thus ended the coalition of ÖVP and FPÖ. Only with the motion of no confidence against Chancellor Kurz (ÖVP) Kneissl ended her work as Foreign Minister. [79] [80]

The open Questions

If one compares the reactions and consequences on the recordings of Ibiza with the shops between Kurz (ÖVP) and Benko then it is obvious that this is a deliberate action. However it is not clear whether the recordings are a leftover from the SPÖ collaboration with Tal Silberstein or whether the recordings were done by the transatlantic lobby or both. Further developments and reactions to the relationship between the FPÖ and Russia could clarify this.

Who has set this trap?
What goals have been or will be pursued with the recordings?
Why was the footage released just before the EU elections in 2019 and what happened with it since 2017?
Was there pressure on Strache (FPÖ) between the recordings in 2017 and the publication in 2019?
Why do Spiegel and Süddeutsche Zeitung refuse the publication on the grounds that private chats do not belong in the public?

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