Public Prosecutor's Office Opens Investigation Of Chancellor Kurz

Der Standard reporting that the Public Prosecutor's Office for Economic Affairs and Corruption (WKStA) has opened an investigation on Chancellor Sebastian Kurz and his chief of staff Bernhard Bonelli for allegedly providing false testimony to a parliamentary committee.

• The accusations relate to statements provided by Kurz and Bonelli to the parliamentary U-Committee regarding appointments to the supervisory board of Oesterreichische Beteiligungs AG (Oebag, the state holding company).
• Records from the smartphone of OeBAG boss Thomas Schmid indicate that Kurz and Bonelli may have been more involved in the matter than previously indicated.
• Kurz has indicated that no matter the findings, he will not resign as chancellor, adding in a news conference this morning that "I knew there was a legal requirement to speak the truth in the commission and therefore of course always answered truthfully."
• Kurz's relations with Austrian media remain strained amid ongoing investigations into the long-running Ibiza scandal that hit the right-wing Freedom Party in 2019, and wider allegations stemming from the affair regarding the relationship between powerful businesses and politics in Austria.