The Economic and Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (WKStA) has submitted a corresponding application to the Vienna Regional Court for Criminal Matters, a WKStA spokeswoman told the APA on Friday afternoon. The risk of committing a crime is assumed to be the reason for detention.
In addition, the spokeswoman for the authorities kept a low profile. “We cannot disclose what considerations led to this step,” she said. The decision as to whether the pollster, who was accepted into the red-black government under Chancellor Werner Faymann (SPÖ) on an ÖVP ticket in December 2013, will actually be in custody will be made on Friday afternoon.
The judge responsible for the question of detention has scheduled an appointment for 2 p.m., the “Kurier” had first reported. However, this appointment had been scheduled “as a precautionary measure, in the event that an application for detention is made,” court spokeswoman Christina Salzborn explained to the APA. Media reports that had circulated an application for detention from Thursday evening were premature insofar as no such application had been submitted at that time.
In the arrest order of the WKStA, the risk of committing a crime and the risk of collusion were cited as reasons for detention. The latter is no longer asserted. The WKStA did not want to explain to the APA why this reason for detention was no longer applicable.
Source: Nachrichten
