Image: Wodicka
The latter are said to have allowed themselves to be “greased” by the 54-year-old first accused for years by placing orders with the manufacturer of workshop, assembly and fastening items, most of which the ÖBB subsidiary did not need at all.
In return, the 55 and 57-year-old men received goodies that were labeled or disguised as i-packages, loyalty payments or bonus points. From a certain order value, there was a financial treat for both of them at the end of the year, motorway vignettes and a brand new iPhone, an iPad or a fancy television set. “The whole thing worked like a self-service shop,” said Senior Public Prosecutor Bernhard Weratschnig from the Economic and Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (WKStA). He accused the two ÖBB trainees of ordering spare train parts, cleaning materials and lubricants at random at their employer’s expense in order to be “rewarded”. As a result, the ÖBB Group suffered damage of almost 400,000 euros in the period from 2014 to 2017 – “a conservative estimate”, as Weratschnig emphasized. Only 40 percent of what the two had ordered from the first accused and a second company, which was or is the subject of a separate investigation, was needed at all: “There was no use for the rest.”
Defendants answer differently
The senior public prosecutor emphasized that such events were not uncommon at ÖBB. Detached from the specific case, the WKStA identified a large number of other employees in the ÖBB Group who were susceptible to corruption, as well as supplier companies who were willing to pay. In this context, Weratschnig mentioned a total of 450 suspects and 10,000 individual facts of bribery.
In the present case, the defendants answered themselves differently. The first accused admitted that the facts described by the prosecution were correct. However, “the subjective factual side is missing,” said Peter Rezar, the defender of the 54-year-old: “He was employed there and took over the system from his predecessors. The ordering system already existed, which provided for ‘encores’ under certain conditions .” His client’s manager approved these ‘extras’ and even used them to advertise customers: “The vignette was priced into certain product packages.” In this respect, the 54-year-old was “only part of a wheel”. “A rock catcher, you might say.”
“Never ordered things that were not needed”
The ÖBB employees admitted to having received money and equipment, although the 57-year-old’s enrichment was kept within manageable limits. “He never ordered things that weren’t needed,” his defense attorney Thomas Mödlagl claimed. “Word has now gotten around to the officials that you are still not allowed to accept favors for ordered items. At the time, he was happy about it.” At the time, however, his client “had a massive alcohol problem and, as a result, was about to take early retirement due to illness.
The 55-year-old ÖBB employee is already receiving a disability pension. The first accused was primarily to blame for everything, “a rhetorically talented, skilful salesman,” said his defense attorney Astrid Wagner. Her client is “a simply structured person, a good worker. He let himself be soaped up”. The fact that he received around 10,000 euros, technical devices and vignettes from the first accused over the years, which the 55-year-old is said to have given away to colleagues and acquaintances, happened “due to his level”, as Wagner said: “He has didn’t think anything of it. He’s not really the smartest.” Her client assumed “that the goods ordered are in the interest of ÖBB”.
Source: Nachrichten
