On the second day of his bribery process, ex-FP chairman Heinz-Christian Strache tried to correct the picture drawn by the Economic and Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (WKStA) of a law purchase by private clinic operator Walter Grubmüller. For senior public prosecutor Silvia Thaller it has been proven that Strache, initially as an opposition politician and later as Vice Chancellor, “took great care” to bring Grubmüller’s private clinic in Währing to the “Prikraf” as a beneficiary.
Recognized private hospitals are directly compensated for medically necessary services through this fund, which is fed by the social security agencies with almost 147 million euros.
In the opposition, the FPÖ called for all private clinics to be included in the fund. At the coalition negotiations in late autumn 2017, the ÖVP only agreed to increase the Prikraf (by 14.7 million euros, note) for cost reasons, according to Strache. Turquoise has strictly refused to open it to all clinics.
The fact that Strache intervened intensively for Grubmüller was shown in the questioning of the Vice President of the Chamber of Commerce Matthias Krenn (FP). When it came to negotiating a direct billing contract for the Währing private clinic with the Austrian Health Insurance Fund (ÖGK) in April 2019, Strache wrote to Krenn, then ÖGK chairman, about Grubmüller: “He is a very good friend of mine and very wealthy. ” The latter, according to Strache yesterday, was a hint to Krenn to perhaps win the entrepreneur “for the free economy”.
The prosecution sees the 10,000 euros already transferred by Grubmüller to the FPÖ in the 2017 election campaign as an advance payment for the settlement of his economically important matter. An invitation (not accepted by Strache) for a Corfu trip in May 2019 can also be seen in this context.
The chairman of the professional association of health companies in the Chamber of Commerce, Julian Hadschieff, was the man on the witness stand yesterday who Grubmüller accuses of having denied his clinic membership of the Prikraf for years. Hadschieff is also the head of PremiQaMed, a Uniqa subsidiary that operates five private clinics. He confirmed that he had known Grubmüller’s concerns for a long time and had always linked his approval with an increase in the Prikraf. What the social security has refused for years.
Hadschieff reported on an appointment in Strache’s office, during which the latter had spoken to Grubmüller’s clinic. After his proposal to increase the Prikraf by 26.5 million euros annually, the Ministry of Health, at the time led by Beate Hartinger-Klein (FP), offered 14.7 million euros.
When asked by Judge Claudia Moravec-Loidolt whether, as von Strache claimed at the beginning, it was ever about opening the Prikraf to all private clinics, Hajieff said: “I don’t remember.” In his opinion, the ex-vice chancellor was primarily concerned with the private clinic in Währing. On today’s (planned) penultimate day of the trial, ex-Minister Hartinger-Klein and FP health spokeswoman Dagmar Belakowitsch were on the witness stand.
