Corruption prosecutors raid Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz’s office

Prosecutors this morning raided the offices of Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, his close advisers and the conservative party headquarters in Vienna, local media reported.

According to the APA press agency, the raids were conducted in the context of allegations Kurz and his conservative People’s Party (ÖVP) bribed newspaper owner Wolfgang Fellner into publishing polls benefiting the chancellor.

Prosecutors suspect polls have been paid for by the finance ministry, which is also ÖVP-led, public broadcaster ORF reported. Fellner’s publishing house Mediengruppe Österreich reacted swiftly, claiming the investigations were based on “grave misunderstandings.”

Over the past few days, Austria’s conservatives had repeatedly speculated about eventual raids on their offices, preemptively denouncing them as wilful attempts to harm the party and the chancellor.

Last week, ÖVP deputy general-secretary Gaby Schwarz said during a press conference that “there will be raids,” adding, “I’m telling you, nothing will be found.” Schwarz also complained journalists were apparently aware such raids were imminent. “I really find that remarkable,” she said, suggesting it may well be a “red herring.”

Former ÖVP general-secretary Andreas Hanger lashed out at corruption prosecutors on Tuesday, arguing the agency has been harboring “leftist cells” and is working to support the ÖVP’s political opponents. His accusations were widely picked up by Austrian media, also because he subsequently failed to answer journalists’ questions on why he believed the supposedly anti-ÖVP prosecutor had the Social Democratic mayor of Salzburg jailed in 2019.

The raids and allegations come on top of a number of scandals Kurz and several close allies have casted as overblown or unrelated to them, most notably investigations into bribery among ÖVP ranks and the notorious Ibiza affair.