Ibiza affair: Strache-Lockvogel received no money for trap
The female decoy in the «Ibiza video,» which led to the resignation of then-Austrian Vice-Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache (FPÖ), did not receive any money for the sting operation. This is according to journalists Frederik Obermaier and Bastian Obermayer.
The two investigative journalists from the South German Newspaper report on a meeting with the woman in their new book "The Ibiza Affair", which will be published on Thursday. "We can say that she assured us - in a relaxed and credible manner - that she knew what she was getting into, that she had not been blackmailed and that she had not received any money," the book says. She was also amazed at how carelessly Strache and his FPÖ party friend Johann Gudenus had confided things to her that could get them into enormous difficulties.
Strache and Gudenus fell into a trap in Ibiza in the summer of 2017 and were filmed talking for hours with an alleged Russian oligarch's niece. The Mirror and the South German Newspaper published parts of the recordings on May 17 in which Strache talks about possibly illegal party donations and political influence. As Obermaier and Obermayer write in "The Ibiza Affair", an investment by the Russian woman in the influential Kronen-Zeitung would have been the main topic of conversation. From there, she could have supported the FPÖ in the media. In return, however, she wanted promises for clearly corrupt offers.
According to the book, Strache rejected such deals several times during the course of the evening. In this context, the 50-year-old had recently repeatedly emphasized that the journalists had misrepresented the momentous night. In return, Obermaier and Obermayer accuse Strache of not ending the conversation earlier in the face of all these obviously corrupt offers. In addition, the ex-FPÖ leader was ultimately persuaded to make promises. For example, he declared that he wanted to award state building contracts to the alleged oligarch's niece if the FPÖ, with the support of the Kronen-Zeitung come to power.
The publication of the video triggered a political quake in Austria. After Strache's resignation, the entire government collapsed, and ultimately even the young chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) was unable to hold on to office. New elections are due on September 29. (SDA)
