Austrian prosecutors search finance minister's home in bribery probe

  • bethanynew97
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    <p>By Francois Murphy</p> <p>VIENNA, Feb 11 (Reuters) – Austrian prosecutors on Thursday searched the home of Finance Minister Gernot Bluemel, a close ally of Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, on suspicion of bribery involving a gambling company seeking help with foreign taxes.</p> <p>The investigation into Bluemel and two other unnamed people is part of a wider probe stemming from the infamous Ibiza video sting that led to the collapse in 2019 of a previous coalition government between Kurz’s conservatives and the far-right Freedom Party then led by Heinz-Christian Strache.</p> <p>At the heart of that wider probe are allegations that government officials and gambling firm Novomatic agreed to appoint a former FPO official as a director of Casinos Austria, a company in which Austria and Novomatic owned stakes, in exchange for gambling licences and other favours for Novomatic.</p> <p>In Bluemel’s case, the anti-corruption prosecutors’ office said it suspects a manager at an unnamed gambling company offered to donate money to an unspecified political party in exchange for Austrian officials’ help with a potential tax claim against it abroad.</p> <p>He is suspected of committing bribery and corruption offences, the statement added.</p> <p>”The accusations are false and easy to disprove,” Bluemel told reporters at a brief news conference on Thursday evening after opposition parties called for him to resign, which he said he would not do.</p> <p>In an earlier statement, Bluemel said his People’s Party had not accepted donations from gambling companies in general or Agen judi slot-machine maker Novomatic in particular.</p> <p>”Austrian companies’ demands abroad are presented to politicians daily and are perfectly normal if they involve securing Austrian jobs,” Bluemel said.</p> <p>Novomatic also said the accusations were unfounded and it had not given money to any party.</p> <p>At his news conference Bluemel said that almost four years ago the then-head of Novomatic invited him to a meeting on donating to the People’s Party, and he made clear his party did not accept donations from gambling companies.</p> <p>Prosecutors searched Bluemel’s home in Vienna as well as other unidentified private and company addresses on Thursday, the anti-corruption prosecutors’ office said.

    <b>(Reporting by Francois Murphy; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky and Lisa Shumaker)</p></div></b>
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