The special session of the Kremsmünster municipal council lasted more than four and a half hours and focused primarily on one person and two topics: Mayor Gerhard Obernberger (VP) and his role in the sale of Kremsegg Castle to the municipal attorney Christian Janda and in the processes surrounding the self-disclosure of the glass packaging manufacturer Vetropack Austria and the subsequent payment of channel fees of around 4.3 million euros.
It was a campaign against him that came to nothing, an attempt by Green party leader Otto Bauer, said Obernberger in an initial reaction the day after the meeting: “At Vetropack, even the audit committee found that no harm had been done to the community “There were no inconsistencies in the sale of the castle either. Nothing has changed in his position and that of the VP that the castle should not be owned by the community: “We have no suitable use for it.”
In the next two weeks, however, the municipality will start talks with Janda regarding a purchase. In any case, this VP motion was passed in the special session. Before that, however, Obernberger had to face numerous questions from Bauer and MFG councilor Angelika Zwicklhuber in the Kremsegg case, but above all an almost half-hour cross-examination by Deputy Mayor Christian Lamprecht (FP): “The blame for why the community didn’t try to get this jewel , although we had all the aces up our sleeves, is entirely up to the mayor.” Lamprecht was also critical of the mixing of Obernberger’s functions as mayor and Kremsegg liquidator: “You can’t get out of this thing that cheaply.” Zwicklhuber calls for more transparency: “Unfortunately, the mayor didn’t answer a lot. It’s good that Otto Bauer dug so deeply.” The dual role of the mayor is a thorn in Bauer’s side: “It doesn’t work that way.” Obernberger is also unlikely to have informed Governor Thomas Stelzer of the existence of a second offer for the castle. The investigations of the public prosecutor’s office on the suspicion of infidelity are not yet off the table.
Source: Nachrichten
