The former VP Minister Sophie Karmasin and her opinion research institute have received public contracts for studies worth 338,000 euros in Lower Austria. The VP members of the state government announced this in their response to an SP request. This now demands “complete clarification” about the meaning and purpose of these orders awarded over the past five years.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office for Economic Affairs and Corruption (WKStA) is investigating Karmasin and her former employee Sabine Beinschab in the VP advertisement scandal. It is about the suspicion that Beinschab is said to have created fictitious surveys for the benefit of ex-Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (VP), paid for by the Ministry of Finance, through the mediation of Karmasin and Thomas Schmid (ex-Secretary General in the finance department).
The WKStA also accuses Karmasin of breaking the law when she received study contracts from ministries after her time as Minister for Family Affairs. It is about embezzlement, corruption, money laundering, serious fraud and breaches of competition rules. The presumption of innocence applies to all those named.
Source: Nachrichten
