The first person to provide information was ex-OMV supervisory board chairman Wolfgang C. Berndt, who firmly ruled out a connection between his donations to the ÖVP and his work on the supervisory board. In the afternoon, the committee continued with a senior OMV employee who did not provide too enlightening inputs.
The 79-year-old former international manager Berndt (Lloyds Bank, Procter & Gamble, GfK) had donated a total of 65,000 euros to the ÖVP – while he was still the deputy head of the supervisory body of the state-owned OMV. In 2017 it was 20,000 euros for the JVP and 45,000 euros for the ÖVP in 2019. “It’s not a big deal,” he told MPs about the two donations. Because the total amount corresponds to only 19 percent of his total donations.
Post for party donations? “Of course that’s nonsense”
In 2017 he donated to the Young ÖVP (JVP) of the later ÖVP leader and Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, “because at that time the government did not take care of the things that are important to the people – these were migration and Unemployment.” The fact that he became head of the supervisory board in 2019 “is of course nonsense – it has nothing to do with quid pro quo”.
The second donation of 45,000 euros to the ÖVP was made in 2019 out of anger that the other parties had deposed the entire ÖVP-led government. The money was intended for the necessary election campaign.
“I wasn’t aware that I was sitting on an ÖVP ticket,” said Berndt to the SPÖ MP Julia Herr, who pointed out that the ÖVP and FPÖ have agreed on the distribution of supervisory board positions. He never identified any political influence. For further chats between Kurz and Schmid related to OMV Berndt states: “I do not chat. I have not seen a chat where I am the addressee or the sender.”
The fact that dependence on Russia for gas has increased is “not because anyone made a decision, that’s how it happened,” said Berndt. Gas consumption in Austria increased by a fifth from 2014 to 2021, domestic production volumes halved, purchases from Germany and the Netherlands fell dramatically – from the Netherlands, for example, because the largest gas field there, Groningen, was quickly closed due to earth movements. “So extra volumes were needed to offset that.”
The current gas supply contract between OMV and Gazprom was extended in 2018. Former OMV boss Rainer Seele and Gazprom boss Alexey Miller signed in the presence of ex-Chancellor Kurz and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin at their meeting during Putin’s state visit to Austria. The supervisory board was not concerned with the contract, said Berndt on Wednesday. OMV recently changed this: the committee would now also deal with gas supply contracts, according to the ex-chairman of the supervisory board.
To Berndt a senior OMV employee was questioned in the afternoon. On the other hand, the former right hand of ex-OMV boss Rainer Seele, Markus Friesacher, had canceled.
The senior OMV employee reports directly to the general manager and works for the entire board, she said. She is not involved in business relations with Russia, she is responsible for relations with the Arab world, for example. She answered most of the politicians’ questions unknowingly – for example about the extension of the OMV-Gazprom contract. She tended to play her role small, often had “no perception” and often questioned whether questions even fit the subject of the investigation – debates about the rules of procedure also unfolded throughout the day.
In any case, the person providing information – who used to work in the ÖVP ministerial offices himself – stated that politics is also important in order to support OMV interests abroad. In her OMV function, she herself does not deal with members of the government, but with cabinet employees. Cooperation with the state and its bilateral relations is important for the group’s international relations. She was also temporarily a board member of the Austrian-Russian Friendship Society, but described herself as a “former and non-active member”. OMV left the company in 2020 after there was excitement about the new board, so she also left the board.
She maintained a professional relationship with ex-OMV boss Seele. In turn, he repeatedly informed the then Chancellor Kurz about developments at OMV. There were “certainly close contacts with Thomas Schmid due to Schmidt’s functions as head of ÖBAG and as a member of the OMV Supervisory Board”.
Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP), whom the opposition asked to join the committee at short notice the day before, will not appear. “It is not possible for the minister to appear at such short notice,” said Karner’s spokesman. The opposition wants to question the head of department because this Schmid has not yet been presented to the sub-committee. Karner’s office already emphasized on Tuesday that there was no legal basis for this.
After this week’s surveys, the committee will continue on September 14th. The ÖVP wants to shed light on possible partisan polls under ex-Chancellor Werner Faymann (SPÖ). In addition to former Chancellor Josef Ostermayer (SPÖ), former Viennese member of parliament Siegfried Lindenmayr (SPÖ) and a former employee of the red Federal Chancellery were also invited. The next day, summonses from the opposition are planned, and the Tyrolean ÖVP regional director Martin Malaun, Tyrolean deputy governor Josef Geisler and young farmers’ regional head Dominik Traxl are intended to provide information.
The meeting will then be attended by prominent figures on September 28th: Ex-Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP), former ÖVP Secretary General Alexander Melchior and the Tyrolean cable car boss and ÖVP MP Franz Hörl have already confirmed for this date.
Source: Nachrichten
