The weekly magazine reported that the reason for the distrust was leaked allegations of bias against an investigator from “Soko Tape”. “We have to find our leak somehow; I would start with GA (Gregor Adamovic, note)”, the head of the Vienna Public Prosecutor’s Office, Johann Fuchs, is said to have written to Pilnacek, reported the “Falter”.
The reason was information that had reached the media, according to which some of the police officers of the “Soko Tape” could be biased due to their party affiliation. Pilnacek’s answer: “So bad, you can’t put up with that; I’ll speak to Lang tomorrow (Franz, head of the Federal Criminal Police Office, note); I imagine Observation; hG”.
Desire for access to private communications
According to Falter, Pilnacek not only wanted the investigator to be observed, but also to have access to his private communications. “It will also be necessary to order a call data evaluation and to secure and evaluate A.’s business and private mobile phones and e-mail accounts for the period in question,” he wrote in an e-mail to Fuchs. According to “Falter”, there were no investigations against the corruption prosecutor.
In the past, Pilnacek and the WKStA have carried out their disputes, for example around the Eurofighter cause, but also publicly in interviews, with complaints and counter-indications. Pilnacek has not yet commented on the chats that have now appeared. The suspended head of the justice section was acquitted of charges of breaching official secrecy at the beginning of November. The Innsbruck public prosecutor’s office filed an appeal.
Fuchs explained in a statement to the ZIB that he attaches importance to the statement “that the OStA Vienna under my leadership in this matter only carried out the tasks assigned to it within the framework of official and technical supervision and did not take any action to implement the tasks discussed here standing measures”.
Investigator is said to have passed on internals
As the “Falter” and the “Standard” also report, a former WKStA public prosecutor is said to have passed on internal information to OStA director Fuchs. In November, the lawyer switched to a law firm that represented numerous suspects in ongoing investigations by the WKStA, which attracted the attention of the media.
IT specialists from the judiciary evaluated the communication between the lawyer and Fuchs for the Innsbruck public prosecutor’s office, according to the “Standard”. The chats suggested that the lawyer had “passed on information relating to the procedures and internal affairs of the public prosecutor’s office for economic affairs and corruption (…) to the accused” Fuchs. The public prosecutor’s office in Innsbruck is investigating Fuchs on suspicion of betrayal of secrets.
New chats in Pilnacek-Causa
Chats between the suspended section head in the Ministry of Justice Pilnacek and the head of the senior public prosecutor Fuchs are intended to show the tense relationship with the economic and corruption public prosecutor’s office.
The lawyer is said to have sent Fuchs photos as well. It should be possible to see calendar entries from her colleagues and “handwritten notes by the investigators in the so-called diary of the act,” wrote the “Standard”.
New investigations against Brandstetter
New investigations against the former ÖVP Justice Minister Wolfgang Brandstetter also became known on Friday. According to Ö1, the public prosecutor’s office in Innsbruck is investigating abuse of office. It is about filling a department head in the presidential section, for which a long-standing head of another department had applied. He was ranked first for the new management position by the independent personnel committee, with a significant advantage in suitability.
However, Brandstetter raised concerns: there had been complaints from non-academics who felt they had treated him worse. He set up a commission hearing, which he chaired himself, and is said to have included his chauffeur in the hearing, among other things. The head of department was subsequently demoted to a simple officer.
The man lodged a complaint and was right at the Federal Administrative Court. This established that both the dismissal and the transfer of the civil servant had taken place in an unobjective and arbitrary manner. According to his lawyer Georg Krakow, Brandstetter has not yet been questioned about the allegations, but Brandstetter denies that his chauffeur was present at the hearing. The decision to fill the position with the second-ranked applicant was correct.
Criticism also from judges’ association
The appointment of posts that disregarded the proposals made by the Personnel Senate caused criticism even during Brandstetter’s tenure – and not just from the opposition. In November 2015, the Judges’ Association complained that positions were not filled according to qualifications, but according to “other interests”. The reason for this was the major ministry reorganization.
Brandstetter merged two sections – the presidential section and section III (personnel) – when he brought the penal system back into the building with a general directorate. And he slightly changed the responsibility of the affected departments of the new section, which meant that not only the head of the section had to be re-elected, but also the heads of the departments.