The investigation into the so-called shredder case, in which a Chancellor employee had five hard drives shredded under a false name after the Ibiza video became known and before former Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) was threatened, has now been discontinued for the second time . No criminal behavior was found against the two employees in the given circumstances, as a spokeswoman for the Vienna Public Prosecutor’s Office confirmed to the APA.
The Federal Chancellery had previously announced via OTS that the employees concerned had reported that the proceedings had been terminated. The starting point for the investigation was a presentation of the facts presented by MPs from the opposition parties SPÖ and NEOS. With the termination of the proceedings, the allegations had proven to be baseless, it said in the broadcast.
As a reminder: in 2019, shortly after the Ibiza video became known, a Chancellor employee had five hard drives destroyed by the Reisswolf company under a false name and without paying. According to media reports, the Public Prosecutor’s Office for Economic Affairs and Corruption (WKStA) initially started the investigation, but then passed it on to the Vienna Public Prosecutor’s Office. They were hired there some time later.
However, according to new findings in the Ibiza investigation committee, the SPÖ and NEOS again presented the facts to the Vienna Public Prosecutor in March 2021. Part of the investigation was namely a request for assistance from the WKStA to the Chancellery. According to the SPÖ and NEOS, this was answered by two employees “contrary to the facts”.
Because, as the photos of the shredded hard drives presented in the Ibiza U Committee suggested, it was not just hard drives from multifunctional printer devices. A picture taken immediately before the shredding act shows that two of the hard drives were of a different type, namely laptop hard drives.
In addition, it is noted on an invoice from the company responsible for maintenance that five identical storage media had been removed. However, two different types of hard drives were shredded. The SPÖ and NEOS had therefore suggested in the advertisement, among other things, that the report by the internal audit department of the Federal Chancellery on the “shredder affair” and the company’s invoice be “provided”.