Shortly after Karmasin’s arrest last Wednesday, pollster Edeltraud G. is said to have confirmed to the Economic and Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (WKStA) that Karmasin had received public contracts on the basis of bogus offers.
Specifically, Karmasin is said to have prompted her former assistant and employee Sabine Beinschab and pollster G. to place bogus offers for orders that were priced higher than their own. G. did this for the “Motive Analysis of Exercise and Sport” study for the Ministry of Sports and for another study (“Women in Club Sport”) for the department in 2020, “knowing well that that’s actually not okay,” quotes the ” Standard” from the statement of the demoscopist.
Karmasin is said to have given subcontracts to Beinschab and G. as thanks. When she was invited again by the Ministry of Sport in May 2021 to submit an offer, she realized that the procedure was based on Karmasin’s system, according to G. She no longer participated. According to the ministry, this study ultimately failed.
Not only the ministry is said to have harmed Karmasin with this system, it is also said to have been used in the private sector. As “Presse” and “Zeit im Bild” had previously reported from the interrogation protocol, according to Edeltraud G., there should also have been price fixing in offers for a professional association and an energy company.
The Viennese regional court for criminal matters had imposed custody on Karmasin on Friday, who is said to have played a central role in the ÖVP advertisements affair. Specifically, Karmasin is said to have arranged for pollster Beinschab to get orders from the Ministry of Finance and the daily newspaper “Österreich”. She was the “originator and main source of ideas” for the “Beinschab-Österreich-Tool”, in which surveys intended to promote the political advancement of the then Foreign Minister and later Chancellor Sebastian Kurz were financed by the Ministry of Finance via bogus bills.
Karmasin is said to have demanded a commission from Beinschab for this, even during her time as minister from 2013 to 2017. According to this, Karmasin is said to have staged the same anti-competitive agreements in several procurement procedures from May 2019 to mid-2021 – despite the ongoing investigations against the former Secretary General in the Ministry of Finance Thomas Schmid. The presumption of innocence applies to Karmasin, as to all other suspects in the ÖVP advertisements affair
Source: Nachrichten
