epa11023329 Witness Thomas Schmid (C), former Secretary General at the Austrian Finance Ministry, and his lawyer Roland Kier (L) leave after the fifth day of the trial against former Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz in Vienna, Austria, 11 December 2023. The Austrian Economic and Corruption Prosecutor's Office accused former chancellor Kurz and former cabinet chief at the Chancellery Bernhard Bonelli of having given false testimony as a respondent in the 'Ibiza-gate' Parliamentary Committee of Enquiry in 2021 and 2022, as well as statements made in the preliminary investigation, an offense punishable by up to three years of imprisonment. The 'Ibiza-gate' scandal brought down the right-wing coalition government in Austria in May 2019, when a video emerged of former vice chancellor Heinz Christian Strache and several other people, filmed in a villa on the Spanish island of Ibiza. EPA/CHRISTIAN BRUNA
Er ist eine Schlüsselfigur in den vielen Ermittlungsverfahren rund um die ÖVP – und er will Kronzeuge werden: der frühere Öbag-Chef und Generalsekretär im Finanzministerium, Thomas Schmid. Im Strafprozess gegen Ex-Kanzler Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) spielt er überhaupt die zentrale Rolle. Dem einstigen ÖVP-Chef wird ja vorgeworfen, im Ibiza-U-Ausschuss falsch über seine Rolle in Öbag-Personalentscheidungen ausgesagt zu haben, also im Zusammenhang mit Vorstands- und Aufsichtsratsbestellungen.