2023-05-24 13:14:10
Vienna. On the fourth and final day of the trial at the Vienna Criminal District Court, the Economy and Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (WKStA) demanded that the defendants be sentenced to a “visible partial prison sentence” for serious fraud and collusion restricting competition. Former Family Minister Sophie Karmasin was convicted of “conspiracy to restrict competition” while avoiding a conviction for fraud.
According to the indictment, former Federal Minister Sophie Karmasin illegally received attendance payments after leaving politics. Senior prosecutor Gregor Adamovic of WKStA “The evidence paints a clear picture and leaves no room for doubt” said. But the strategy of defense attorneys Norbert Wess and Philipp Wolm worked, and Karmasin was acquitted of the incident. Due to the full reimbursement of the compensation amount “effective regret” Taking this into account, the court did not impose any penalty on the former minister in this regard. On the other hand, the 56-year-old former minister was found guilty of illegal price setting in relation to work for the Ministry of Sports, “Making collusion that restricts competition” He was sentenced to 15 months of conditional imprisonment for the crime. Karmasin’s sentence was suspended for three years.
His lawyer, Norbert Wess, is at the helm of his hearing. “I firmly believe that Doctor Karmasin cannot be accused of any crime” said. According to Wess, active regret was ‘not only timely, but also voluntary and overly thorough’. Because Karmasin had even paid back the 27,000 Euros that the Republic had cut as wage tax. Wess is also concerned about illegal price deals. “Everyone in the ministry was involved. There was no competition, there was no bidding procedure“ claimed.
Beinschab blamed Karmasin!
The former minister fought for acquittal until the last moment on Tuesday. Although he had collected 75 percent of his ministry salary for months, about 80,000 euros in total, he had received new revenues from his teaching activities. He was told by the Chancellery that he was not allowed to earn anything during this time.
He also allegedly received commission payments resulting from a deal he made with his former employee, Sabine Beinschab. Beinschab, who was also a public opinion researcher, started his own business, conducted research and surveys on behalf of the Ministry of Finance, and later became a key witness in the context of the advertising case (not yet in the case). Therefore, he heavily accused Karmasin and thus brought water to the prosecutor’s mill.
WKStA had repeatedly brought up Karmasin’s financial situation. In the indictment „the first accused, whose economic situation is extremely good“ your actions „maximum personal enrichment at the expense of the public“ stated purpose. As for the second accusation; The former minister had received promises from the Ministry of Sports for the preparation of studies between 2019-2021. Before that, however, Karmasin had encouraged two other pollsters (including Beinschab) to submit fake offers so that Karmasin would appear to be the top bidder. Here a verdict of guilt was made.
Karmasin: „No need to play the poor guy“
The testimony of CASAG’s key witness, Sabine Beinschab, caused a sensation during the four-day trial. The interviewer heavily blamed his former boss, Karmasin, whom he described as a “big role model”.
The former family minister, nominated by the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP), lashed out at Sabine Beinschab in her closing speech. Last week, he heavily indicted CASAG’s key witness, Sabine Beinschab.
“Ms. Beinschab staged herself as a victim,” said Karmasin, continuing her words as follows: “I caught him crying every week into my office and convinced my mom to hire him. He was making good money from these jobs. It should be a million euros. And now he’s painting an inaccurate picture of me. I realized that some here testified against me, but each had a reason to do so.” (yenivatan.at)
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