In order to increase the pressure in Upper Austria in the case of multi-million dollar orders for corona protective equipment – including to an entrepreneur close to the ÖVP – the SPÖ and Neos got together a good week before the state elections. In a joint press conference on Friday in Linz, the red club boss Michael Lindner and the pink state spokesman Felix Eypeltauer called for an investigative commission to examine the procurement processes.
Two test reports available to the APA show that protective items were purchased in Upper Austria at an overpriced price last year. Both the internal audit report of Oö. Health holding (OÖG) from September 2020 as well as a current rough report (RH) from the Court of Auditors show that the country has spent a comparatively large amount of money on medical protective equipment. In its rough report, the RH states, among other things, that the federal states’ expenditures for protective equipment differ “considerably”.
Upper Austria spent EUR 76 million in the period from March to May, EUR 4.5 million of which went to PR consultants close to the ÖVP, while Carinthia and Salzburg managed with four and five million respectively, Lower Austria spent twelve million. taken in hand. Only Vienna (82 million) had similarly high expenditures as Upper Austria. The internal audit report also confirmed that there would have been more favorable offers than those from said entrepreneur. However, the control committee of the state parliament came to the conclusion that “all purchases by the OÖG went perfectly”. The public prosecutor’s office also stopped investigations due to a lack of initial suspicion.
Neos complain of “friendship economy” in the VP
The taxpayer has the right to complete clarification for the enormous expenses, said Eypeltauer in the direction of Governor Thomas Stelzer (ÖVP). The Neos top candidate also spoke of a “step by step towards a structural reality becoming friends economy” in the People’s Party. Lindner emphasized that the “facts should be openly on the table” and therefore his party wanted to set up a commission of inquiry together with the Neos – knowing full well that there will probably not be one. Because, and so Red-Pink was the next point of criticism, Upper Austria is the only federal state in which control rights in the state parliament are not minority rights. In addition to transparency in the procurement process, Upper Austria also needed a “democracy update”, according to the conclusion of the press conference.
VP sees discussion only owed to the election campaign
Upper Austria’s ÖVP regional manager Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer explained the high expenditure on the sidelines of a press conference by saying that Upper Austria – like Vienna – had prepared for the crisis and had procured “sufficient protective equipment”. He sees in the ongoing boiling of the topic the “obviously desperate attempt by certain political circles” to “appear somehow by patching up” before the Upper Austria election and the discussion is only owed to the election campaign.
