Eurofighter affair

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The first new Austrian Eurofighter (2007)

The Euro Fighter affair in Austria comprises the opaque and possibly bribes of up accompanied to 100 million euro purchase of new fighter aircraft of the type Typhoon the Euro Fighter fighter GmbH , popularly known as "Euro Fighter" for the Air Force in 2002 by the Government bowl I .

Tender

The coalition government at the time, consisting of the ÖVP and the FPÖ , decided in its government agreement to purchase new combat aircraft to replace the now outdated Swedish Saab J35 Draken (model year: 1963). Initially, the purchase of 24 new aircraft was planned. After the Danube flood disaster in 2002 , however, the number was reduced to 18.

According to the UK law enforcement agency Serious Fraud Office (SOF), there were serious inconsistencies in the deal. In the course of house searches, the authority secured documents in the course of its own corruption investigations that indicate bribery payments by the British arms company BAE Systems . According to this, the Austrian landowner and gun lobbyist Alfons Mensdorff-Pouilly , who works for BAE (cooperation partner of EADS ), is said to have “put pressure” on, so that the first tender was canceled. This enabled the EADS Group, whose aircraft were not yet sufficiently developed when the first tender was submitted, to still participate in the tender.

The decision in favor of 18 Eurofighters for a total of 1.959 billion euros was finally made in the course of the second tendering process at a Chancellor's breakfast before the Council of Ministers on July 2, 2002. The decision among the members of the government was unanimous, although Finance Minister Karl-Heinz Grasser had been in favor of the American F-16 and Defense Minister Herbert Scheibner had used Gripen for the Swedish Saab 39 . Here too, the SFO assumes irregularities. It speaks of a EUR 1.79 billion contract with EADS "following the aggressive payment of success fees to key decision makers".

Committees of inquiry

After the National Council elections in October 2006, the Eurofighter-skeptical parliamentary groups SPÖ , Greens and FPÖ (meanwhile opposition party) made up a majority in the National Council and decided on November 8, 2006 against the votes of the then governing parties ÖVP and BZÖ , a parliamentary committee of inquiry to examine the Eurofighter Set up procurement. The Green MP Peter Pilz was elected chairman. The circumstances of the political decision in favor of the Eurofighter, the conclusion of the sales contract, the circumstances of the counter-deals and the possibilities of getting out of the deal should be examined.

At the request of the Greens and the FPÖ, parliament set up a new committee of inquiry at the end of March 2017. It was headed by the second President of the National Council, Karlheinz Kopf (ÖVP). He had to stop his work due to the early election of the National Council .

On September 6, 2018, the third committee of inquiry began work on the subject, with the President of the National Council, Wolfgang Sobotka, taking over .

Suspicion of bribe payments

The committee of inquiry uncovered questionable networks of lobbyists to officials and politicians.

One of the most explosive individual findings is the EUR 87,600 payment by EADS lobbyist Erhard Steininger to Anna Maria Frühstück-Wolf's company. She is the wife of Major General Erich Wolf , a member of the commission that was responsible for evaluating the offers. The Wolf couple and their best man Steininger deny any connection with the procurement of the Eurofighter. The "Airchief" was temporarily suspended. Disciplinary proceedings have also been initiated against him.

Against Erich German, head of the defense office in the Defense Ministry, disciplinary proceedings were initiated. In the committee he had admitted that he had been on vacation with Steininger more often. He had the EADS lobbyist pay him the hotel costs twice and only returned them later. In addition, Steininger was invited to the committee several times at the time of the last joint skiing holiday in Ramsau. The Abwehramt chief does not want to have known about it.

The former BZÖ election campaign manager Gernot Rumpold is accused of having received excessive payments to his companies in the course of the procurement. According to a report by News magazine, there is an advertising contract worth almost 6.6 million euros with Rumpold's agency 100% Communications . Before the committee of inquiry, Rumpold and his wife Erika refused to testify on the grounds of trade secrets. However, they stated that they had earned 3.2 million euros from the advertising contract. A simple press conference was set at a gross price of 96,000 euros. Some committee members suspected that party funding was hidden behind the excessive payments. However, the allegation could not be proven.

Former FPÖ employees also received money from EADS. For example, the former secretary in the FPÖ club Kurt Lukasek is said to have been paid for political analyzes.

Of particular interest to the ÖVP were the around 5 million euros in EADS sponsorship money for the Rapid football club , the real meaning of which could not be determined. The connections assumed by the ÖVP with the anti-Eurofighter election campaign of the SPÖ could not be established. It was only proven that there had been talks between EADS and high-ranking SPÖ politicians before and after the election campaign.

According to court files, the Eurofighter lobbyists Klaus-Dieter Bergner, Alfred Plattner and Walter Schön are said to have had around 100 million euros available to influence the purchase decision in their favor. According to information from the public prosecutor in Rome, the mailbox company Vector of the Italian financial fraudster Gianfranco Lande alone is said to have received 84 million euros. Lande has confirmed that it has laundered money for Eurofighter and the representatives of the consortium.

Discussion about contract exit and piece reduction

According to the Austrian federal government (with Defense Minister Günther Platter ), which refers to EADS, a contract exit would cost 1.2 billion euros. However, if EADS or Eurofighter GmbH can prove that they have not adhered to the contract, the Republic of Austria could withdraw from the contract without cancellation fees. The “Code of Business Conduct” in the Eurofighter contract states that the bidder may not offer or grant benefits to any natural or legal person who is involved in the award of the contract. The payment referred to as a “loan” by EADS lobbyist Erhard Steininger to Wolf's wife in 2002 immediately after the decision to go with the Eurofighters could have violated this provision.

For the federal government, the suspicions were insufficient to withdraw from the purchase of the Eurofighter. Instead, the then Federal Minister for National Defense Norbert Darabos (as the responsible representative of the Republic of Austria) concluded an agreement with the manufacturer on June 26, 2007, which provides for a reduction in the number of aircraft from 18 to 15 (all tranche 1, nine new and six used Machinery). This reduced the acquisition costs from the original 1.959 billion euros to 1.589 billion euros, which corresponds to a cost saving of approx. 19%. Critics of the agreement, on the other hand, argue that the reduction in the size of the fleet and the use of used aircraft have also reduced the maximum total number of flight hours by 19%, meaning that there are no real savings. At the same time, the elimination of Tranche 2 machines leads to a loss of combat strength, which is also due to the fact that the "Praetorian" and "PIRATE" systems are not used .

After the inauguration of the new National Council on November 9, 2017 - with 8 mandataries from the successful Peter Pilz list , but without the list founder Peter Pilz - the soon-to-be-outgoing Defense Minister Doskozil (SPÖ) warned of “a possible withdrawal from the Eurofighter under one black and blue government ”to achieve cost-effective air surveillance. Let the courts work. Hopes from Airbus that an ÖVP / FPÖ government could withdraw.

The role of Mensdorff-Pouilly

After it became known at the beginning of 2007 that Christer van der Kwast, Chief Public Prosecutor of the Swedish Anti-Corruption Authority, had initiated investigations against Valurex because of the procedures relating to the award of contracts for Saab-Gripen fighter aircraft by the Czech Republic, Alfons Mensdorff-Pouilly was declared on May 21 Invited to the parliamentary committee of inquiry in Austria in 2007. Mensdorff-Pouilly testified: “I have had no contact with anyone in a ministry in this regard or anything.” His work for the defense company BAE was only “the ongoing information of the sales and marketing staff of BAE in political and cultural terms Reference to business customs in Austria ”. The Serious Fraud Office secured a report from Mensdorff-Pouilly's company "MPA Handelsgesellschaft mbH" dated March 27, 2003 to the BAE, from which it emerged that the MPA had "exerted pressure" to launch the first tender for the purchase of military aircraft cancel the Republic of Austria. After quoting this tender, the choice would be the F-16 from Lockheed Martin fallen. The contract was put out to tender again, giving Eurofighter the opportunity to submit an offer. "Following the aggressive payment of success bonuses to key decision-makers," says the MPA report, "Austria announced an order worth € 1.79 billion for the Eurofighter Typhoon."

Prosecutor's investigation

After a statement of the facts that Peter Pilz, Chairman of the Eurofighter Committee of Inquiry, sent to the Austrian public prosecutor on October 1, 2008, the responsible public prosecutor began investigations against Alfons Mensdorff-Pouilly on suspicion of false testimony before the parliamentary Eurofighter Committee of Inquiry from January 2009 by. On February 27, 2009, Mensdorff-Pouilly was arrested in his castle in Luising because of the risk of blackout . The pre-trial detention lasted five weeks.

In June 2011, the public prosecutor continued the investigation.

Doubts about counter-deals

The condition for the award was also counter-deals amounting to 200 percent of the purchase price. According to the then Federal Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel , a third of this should have an impact on the budget and flow back to the state. The Court of Auditors stated that the targeted compensation volume of four billion euros is "likely" to be achieved. However, due to the "non-transparent and misleading" crediting criteria, an exact review of the countertrade is not possible.

In February 2013, a citizen requested the Ministry of Economic Affairs to submit a list of those companies that would have benefited from the counter-deals on the basis of the Law on Information Requirement. This was denied to him because the agreed compensation amount had not yet been reached and the list could still change. In addition, there is a preliminary investigation at the Vienna Public Prosecutor's Office. After a complaint with the Administrative Court , the ministry said that there was no “secure knowledge” and that the companies had also been guaranteed confidentiality. In May 2015, the Higher Administrative Court ruled that the blanket refusal to provide information about the countertrade was illegal. In response to this decision, Minister of Economics Reinhold Mitterlehner initiated the publication of the countertrade list. The list has since been available on the Ministry's website; the information it contains was as of May 2012.

Confidentiality of the contract

The purchase contract is kept secret by the Ministry of Defense and is not accessible to parliament.

A request for information from a citizen who requested the surrender of the contract with partial blacking out was rejected by the Federal Ministry for National Defense. In March 2016, the Federal Administrative Court overturned the refusal to provide information due to a lack of justification following a complaint. A complaint against a renewed refusal to provide information is pending.

Publications

In February 2017, the Austrian Ministry of Defense triggered an avalanche with the report of the “Task Force Eurofighter” deployed under Darabos in 2012. A criminal complaint was filed against Airbus Defense and Space GmbH (formerly EADS Deutschland GmbH) and Eurofighter Jagdflugzeug GmbH with the Vienna Public Prosecutor's Office. According to the Defense Minister, the purpose of this criminal complaint is to initiate investigations and to assert claims for damages against the aforementioned companies.

In May 2017, Georg Vetter (member of the Eurofighter Committee of Inquiry and Member of the National Council of the ÖVP) published the book “Eurofighter 2017” in which he discusses the current developments from his point of view.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Christian Böhmer: Eurofighter: 100 million euros bribe? Courier , September 2, 2011, accessed July 8, 2017 .
  2. ↑ a b c FAQ: The ten most important answers to the Eurofighter. Der Standard , April 20, 2007, accessed July 8, 2017 .
  3. ↑ Ashwien Sankholkar: FORMAT exclusive: Secret file "Ali" describes illegal rivers of millions at Mensdorff-Pouilly. Format (magazine) , April 17, 2009, accessed July 8, 2017 .
  4. ↑ a b The Chronology. Department of Defense website, accessed July 8, 2017 .
  5. ↑ Nina Weissensteiner: U-Committee on Eurofighter is now in place. Der Standard, March 28, 2017, accessed June 2, 2017.
  6. ↑ a b Eurofighter Committee: allegations for the military “unbearable”. In: Österreichischer Rundfunk . September 6, 2018, accessed September 6, 2018 .
  7. ↑ a b c d e That was the Eurofighter U Committee. Die Presse , July 1, 2007, accessed July 18, 2010 .
  8. ↑ http://zib.orf.at/zib2/wolf/stories/175034/
  9. ↑ a b c The Darabos Deal. airpower.at, accessed on July 6, 2010 .
  10. ↑ Doskozil warns of exit from the Eurofighter orf.at, November 12, 2017, accessed November 12, 2017.
  11. ↑ Profile: Mensdorff-Pouilly makes detailed statements for the first time on allegations of bribery (from February 24, 2007)
  12. ↑ According to the minutes of the parliamentary committee of inquiry of May 21, 2007, p. 79 ff, quoted from Peter Pilz: Page no longer available , search in web archives: Presentation of facts@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.peterpilz.at
  13. ↑ Compnet: Brief portrait of the MPA company  ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) (accessed on January 10, 2009)@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.compnet.at
  14. ^ Parliamentary question to Defense Minister Darabos (of February 26, 2010)
  15. ↑ ORF: Investigations against Mensdorff-Pouilly (from January 3, 2009)
  16. ↑ Der Standard: Public Prosecutor's Office investigates Mensdorff-Pouilly (from January 3, 2009)
  17. ^ ORF: Mensdorff-Pouilly arrested (from February 27, 2009)
  18. ↑ Der Standard : custody for weapons lobbyist Mensdorff-Pouilly (from March 1, 2009)
  19. ↑ Eurofighter: Public prosecutor starts again through derstandard.at
  20. ↑ Eurofighter crime thriller about the whereabouts of 87 million euros diepresse.com, accessed on June 14, 2011
  21. ↑ Inquiry - Countertrades Eurofighter. FragDenStaat.at, accessed on July 8, 2017 .
  22. ↑ Barbara Wimmer: Transparency Act: "Refusal of information is censorship at the source". In: futurezone.at. January 20, 2014, accessed March 22, 2014 .
  23. ↑ A blanket refusal to provide information about counter-deals in the Eurofighter was illegal. Administrative High Court, accessed on June 22, 2015 .
  24. ↑ APA: Eurofighter: Mitterlehner will publish counter-deals - derstandard.at/2000017894924/Eurofighter-Mitterlehner-wird-Gegengeschaefte-veroefflichen. DerStandard.at, June 23, 2015, accessed on July 8, 2017 .
  25. ↑ Compensation transactions of Eurofighter GmbH. Reports 2003-2010. Federal Ministry of Science, Research and Economy, accessed on February 24, 2017 .
  26. ↑ Eurofighter as secret as ever. Der Standard, March 27, 2008, accessed February 27, 2017 .
  27. ↑ Inquiry - Eurofighter sales contract. FragDenStaat.at, March 25, 2015, accessed on February 27, 2017 .
  28. ↑ Markus Hametner: Second success in court for transparency in Eurofighter purchase. Freedom of Information Forum, March 23, 2016, accessed on February 20, 2017 .
  29. ^ Forum Freedom of Information: The Procedures. Retrieved February 27, 2017 .
  30. ↑ Eurofighter 2017 - Ibera Verlag. In: ibera.at. May 9, 2017. Retrieved September 6, 2018 .
  31. ↑ Benedikt Kommenda: "The Eurofighter advertisement is a mirage". In: The press . May 11, 2017. Retrieved September 6, 2018 .
  32. ↑ Christian Ortner : Book Recommendation: "The deception of the Republic". In: ortneronline.at. May 12, 2017. Retrieved September 6, 2018 .