Karl-Heinz Grasser

Karl-Heinz Grasser in 2004

Karl-Heinz "KHG" Grasser (born January 2, 1969 in Klagenfurt ) is a former Austrian politician (non-party, FPÖ until 2003 ). From February 2000 to January 2007 he was Austrian Finance Minister .

Life

Grasser's parents, who had joined the FPÖ, ran a car dealership in Carinthia. Karl-Heinz Grasser was the 1987 AHS - graduation with honors at the Ingeborg Bachmann school in Klagenfurt and obtained by the following studies of applied business administration in 1992 at the University of Klagenfurt the master -degree. His diploma thesis is entitled Die Klein-AG der Schweiz - Civil Law and Tax Law Fundamentals as well as Structures and Problems of Legal Practice . In 1992 Grasser made the acquaintance of Jörg Haider , to whose political circle he was from then on counted. In the same year Grasser became a scientific specialist for tourism policy and a parliamentary employee in the parliamentary club of the FPÖ . In 1993 Grasser received the positions of managing director of the Freedom Academy and general secretary of the FPÖ with equal rights.

From 1994 to 1998 he was Deputy Governor in the Carinthian provincial government under Governor Christof Zernatto (ÖVP). Then there was a move to the private sector at Magna International , where Grasser was Vice President for Human Resources and Public Relations. In a press conference, Grasser distanced himself from Haider. That same year Grasser's first marriage ended in divorce. From 1999 he was also Managing Director of Sport Management International (SMI), which belongs to the Magna Group . Until the end of 1999, Grasser was also a board member of the Sir Karl Popper Foundation , of which he is still a member today.

2000-2003

In 1999 he returned to politics as a candidate for the FPÖ. After the National Council election in 1999 , an ÖVP-FPÖ coalition was formed. Grasser was as FPÖ Finance Minister under Chancellor Schüssel sworn in . His appointment came as a surprise after Federal President Thomas Klestil refused to swear Thomas Prinzhorn in as finance minister because of his xenophobic statements.

In autumn 2002 Grasser resigned as finance minister due to the so-called " Knittelfelder Putsch ", in which the FPÖ party congress delegates (including Jörg Haider ) turned against the members of the FPÖ government - at the same time as the then Vice Chancellor and FPÖ federal party leader Susanne Riess- Passer and the then club chairman Peter Westenthaler . These events prompted the ÖVP to call new elections.

2003-2006

After the parliamentary elections in 2002 , Grasser resigned from the FPÖ and was sworn in as a non-party finance minister in the new Schüssel cabinet . Although he was not a party member, Grasser was then referred to by leading Austrian media, such as the Austria Press Agency, as an ÖVP minister because he was active on the national board of the ÖVP and thus exercised a top position in this party. After the massive defeat of the ÖVP in the National Council election in 2006 , Grasser was almost elected Vice Chancellor at the request of then ÖVP boss Wolfgang Schüssel . According to the former ÖVP boss Erhard Busek , however, this was prevented by the former ÖVP club chairman Andreas Khol .

On October 22, 2005, Karl-Heinz Grasser married the Swarovski heiress Fiona Pacifico Griffini, who was four years older than him, in Dürnstein in the Wachau, to the great attention of the tabloid press. He had previously broken an engagement to an Argentine diplomat's daughter.

2007-2008

On January 9, 2007, after weeks of speculation, Grasser announced his departure from federal politics. On June 13, 2007, Karl-Heinz Grasser, ex- Verbund boss Hans Haider and banker Julius Meinl announced that they would join the new energy investment fund Meinl International Power , which was supposed to finance the construction of power plants in Eastern Europe . In the same year Grasser was elected to the supervisory board of Fonds C Quadrat .

The lobbying agency Valora Solutions, founded by Grasser together with Walter Meischberger in 2007, was dissolved after a year due to a lack of business success. In the course of the privatization of Telekom Austria , Valora is said to have received 6.5 million euros. There is therefore a suspicion that the company was not established for ordinary business purposes. The public prosecutor's office is investigating suspected breach of trust. After Valora was dissolved, Grasser founded the asset management company SMW OG.

On September 3, 2007, Grasser's first child, a daughter, was born in Innsbruck.

In 2008 the board of Meinl International Power was voted out, whereby Grasser lost his post there.

Since 2009

In April 2009 Grasser sold his shares in the successor company of Meinl International Power after Julius Meinl V. had been arrested. On September 27, 2010, Grasser resigned from his position as chairman of the supervisory board of the fund company C-Quadrat and left the supervisory board at the same time.

On May 26, 2011, the Vienna Public Prosecutor's Office had house searches carried out at ten private and company addresses in Vienna, Carinthia and Tyrol as part of the criminal financial proceedings against Grasser.

In mid-2009, Grasser founded the real estate company GPS together with his “fatherly friend” and real estate agent Ernst Karl Plech . Grasser left this company in January 2011. Information about Grasser's further professional activity is not known.

Political positions

Karl-Heinz Grasser was of the opinion that a “stability-oriented fiscal policy ” can only be achieved through consistent “ flexibilization of the markets ” through deregulation and privatization as well as through “relieving the economy of administrative and legal compliance costs”.

This very clear financial policy objective was often described by political opponents as monetarist and neoliberal . The keywording of his financial policy , which he himself forced, was also striking (“A good day starts with a restructured budget”, “more private, less state”). The most famous of the catchphrases he created is the so-called “ zero deficit ” (the balanced state budget), which he presented as the “central content of the government program” to be achieved. This goal was achieved once in 2002 through an increase in taxes, fees, charges and tolls (Austria was the only country in the EU to increase taxes during the economic downturn, and the tax rate in 2001 even reached the record level of the Second Republic at 46.5%) as well as reducing administrative costs and government spending. The sale and partial privatization of state-owned companies such as Österreichische Tabakwerke as well as the sale of gold and currency reserves in the course of the introduction of the euro by the Austrian National Bank also contributed to this ; In the years 2001–2003 the National Bank paid more than 950 million euros to the federal government, twice as much as the long-term average.

Grasser was accused by the opposition parties and some media that he had only achieved the zero deficit by selling liquid and profitable state-owned companies. Another criticism was that the zero deficit was achieved due to the one-off effect of early tax receipts and the passing on of expenditure to the federal states. In addition, the timing of the spending cuts was wrong during the bad economic mood following the bursting of the “ New Economy bubble” and September 11th .

The budget deficit for the following year 2004 was 4.4% (the value was subsequently corrected by the EU authorities after Grasser officially reported 1.2% and did not include government spending of 7.5 billion euros for the Austrian Federal Railways ) ; that of 2005 was 1.5% lower than budgeted (1.7%).

Public controversy

Karl-Heinz Grasser was heard by the opposition and some Austrian media, including u. a. the daily newspapers Der Standard and Kurier as well as the weekly newspaper Falter , strongly criticized. The most important point of criticism of the person and the politician Karl-Heinz Grasser was his understanding of office as Federal Minister of the Republic. Grasser was also accused of using his office for personal gain. The opposition repeatedly demanded his resignation from the ministerial office.

The judiciary suspects Grasser of having collected dubious funds through a network of companies and foundations in Liechtenstein, Cyprus and the Caribbean. Willibald Berner, former head of cabinet under FPÖ Transport Minister Michael Schmid , reported in a testimony before the public prosecutor about a master plan of the FPÖ, according to which individual personalities such as Peter Hochegger , Walter Meischberger and Grasser should benefit financially from the privatizations specified in the government program. Berner later worked for the Internet provider YLine , whose subsidiary designed the controversial website for Grasser.

On July 14, 2010, the public prosecutor announced that it was investigating further privatizations in the Grasser era, including ( Postsparkasse , Staatsdruckerei , Vienna Airport , Dorotheum , Siemens Austria , Voestalpine Stahl , Strohal Rotationsdruck , Österreichischer Postbus , Böhler-Uddeholm , VA Erzberg and Austria Tobacco ).

Homepage affair

In the so-called homepage affair, Grasser is accused of not paying tax on EUR 283,424 in donations from the Austrian Federation of Industry for the purpose of creating his official (according to other information also: private) website. Grasser emphasizes that the donations did not go to him, but to the association founded on March 25, 2001 to promote the new economy . Grasser himself was not a member of the association; The club chairman was Matthias Winkler, Grasser's head of cabinet.

The order to create the website was placed with FirstInEx and canceled again. FirstInEx was a subsidiary of the Internet provider YLine, which later went bankrupt under unsettled circumstances with liabilities of more than 22 million euros. Grasser held 285 shares in Yline. His father held shares in FirstInEx. The prosecution investigated. The order was canceled and awarded for EUR 105,000 to Martrix Communications Group GmbH with the participation of Peter Hochegger.

Lobbyist pays Grasser's vacation trip

In 2004 Walter Meischberger paid for a vacation trip to the Seychelles for Grasser through the agency ZehnVierzig . Grasser justified this with the fact that Meischberger had received special conditions and he therefore let him make the booking and later refunded the money. (see BUWOG affair )

BUWOG affair

→ Main article : BUWOG affair

In 2009, in the wake of the commission payments affair in connection with the privatization of federal apartments in 2004, Grasser became the focus of media interest. Two acquaintances of the then Finance Minister Grasser, the PR consultant Peter Hochegger and the lobbyist and ex- FPÖ -Politiker Walter Meischberger had paid voluntary because 9.6 million euro fee, which they by the winner of the BUWOG -Verkaufs Immofinanz received over had smuggled a mailbox company called Astropolis past Finanz. Immofinanz had surprisingly outbid CA Immo , which had previously been the best bidder , by 1.3 million euros (0.135 percent) at the last minute. The inside information, according to which the best bid was 960 million euros, is said to have been passed on to Immofinanz by Grasser via Meischberger and Hochegger for a commission. Grasser asserts that he did not know about the payment, but a former employee of Grassers described the deal as a "game of negotiation". Grasser is being investigated on suspicion of abuse of office and breach of official secrecy, as well as on suspicion of infidelity. The judicial authorities suspect that between the end of 2005 and the beginning of 2010, Grasser received more than EUR 800,000 in commissions from the sale of BUWOG.

At the beginning of February 2012, CA Immo joined the criminal proceedings as a private party and, according to the weekly newspaper Falter, is demanding EUR 200 million in damages from the accused for "lost profit" and consulting costs.

In March 2012, Grasser lost a trial against Gabriela Moser . Moser does not have to retract her assertion that the ex-minister had "conspiratorial talks" aimed at illegally influencing the Buwog proceedings.

Allocation of posts for hiring a Porsche

On 15./16. In March 2005, Karl-Heinz Grasser's fiancée at the time had an accident with a Porsche Cayenne . The investigations show that the car was made available to the then Finance Minister Grasser by an "uncle by choice". This “friend of the family” had been a member of the supervisory board of two companies wholly owned by the Republic since 2001 at the suggestion of his “nominal nephew” Grasser: in the Federal Pension Fund and in the Federal Computing Center , where Grasser was the owner's representative. In addition to the crooked look that arose from accepting gifts from a “favorite”, there was also the question of the taxation of this gift. (see also section: Suspected corruption when introducing ELAK )

Suspected incitement to abuse of office in the course of the wedding

Grasser was accused in 2005 by Peter Pilz and in 2011 by the public prosecutor of having violated the registration law at his wedding and of having incited the then mayor of Weißenkirchen to abuse his office. Grasser feared indiscretions before the wedding due to the marital eligibility test at the registry office of his main residence in Vienna. Mayor Bodenstein also pointed out that, regardless of the person or the office, to help within the scope of the legal possibilities. On February 9, 2015, the investigation was discontinued on the grounds that Grasser was "charged with several crimes" anyway.

Terminal tower affair

The Porr , from 2007 to 2014 led by Horst Pöchhacker , agreed in 2005 with Meischberger and Hochegger a consultant's fee of 200,000 euros, "to remove obstacles in the context of a process developed by the Porr in Linz office project out of the way" to. The project is the Terminal Tower built by Porr and Raiffeisenlandesbank Oberösterreich near Linz Central Station . The project operators wanted the Upper Austria Regional Finance Directorate to be the tenant, which is politically subordinate to the Ministry of Finance headed by Karl-Heinz Grasser. Grasser initially spoke out against the new location due to the higher rental costs, but revised his opinion just at the time when UBM-Realitätenentwicklung-AG (UBM) , which belongs to Porr AG , hired the two consultants Meischberger and Hochegger.

In contrast to the first selection process, this time the ministry made the decision hands-free. The representatives of the financial services, who were extremely critical of the move, were unceremoniously excluded from the award committee. As with Buwog, the Porr fee was not paid out until 2007. This transaction is also said to have gone through the Cypriot mailbox company Astropolis.

On January 28, 2010, on behalf of the public prosecutor's office, house searches were carried out in the Vienna office of the Porr construction company and its real estate subsidiary UBM. The judiciary suspects infidelity, the acceptance of gifts by officials and bribery. Accordingly, with the assistance of real estate agent Ernst Karl Plech, a "one-off amount of 700,000 euros" should have flowed to Finance Minister Karl-Heinz Grasser. The former Porr board member and later ÖBB boss Martin Huber had seriously incriminated Pöchhacker and the Grasser confidante Plech during his testimony.

Post-privatization

In May 2006 Austrian Post was partially privatized. The Raiffeisen Centrobank (RCB), which was involved in the IPO, paid a commission in the amount of 350,000 euros on high Eggers Valora AG. Part of the money is said to have flowed on to Valora Solutions, in which Meischberger, Hochegger and later also Grasser were involved.

Novomatic affair

The weekly magazine Falter published new details on the Novomatic affair in January 2012. In 2006 - according to the ÖVP parliamentarian Günter Stummvoll in a testimony - Grasser's people literally “taken the ÖVP parliamentary club by surprise” in order to achieve a weakening of the gambling monopoly. The machine group Novomatic and Telekom Austria , who had already worked out plans for a joint project, would have benefited from this. Walter Meischberger , lobbyist and best man Grassers, received 465,000 euros from Novomatic, but the amount went to the lobbying agency Valora Solutions , in which, in addition to Meischberger, Grasser and Hochegger were also involved.

When the Austrian parliament established Committee of Inquiry corruption charges also Novomatic General was Franz Wohlfahrt asked about the money flowed. He stated that he had consultancy relationships with Meischberger and Hochegger, but repeatedly affirmed that they only created marketing concepts for Admiral and Novomatic, as well as providing advice on the company's approach to changing the law on the gaming monopoly. For Wohlfahrt, however, the behavior of his company was nothing unusual, he even underlined in his testimony that Meischberger's good contacts with Finance Minister Grasser had spoken in favor of his commitment.

The amendment to the law ultimately failed because the BZÖ unexpectedly voted against it at the decisive finance committee meeting on July 5, 2006. This sudden change of decision should be directly related to an order for a study in the amount of 300,000 to the BZÖ advertising agency "Orange" by Casinos Austria , which would have been disadvantaged by the amendment.

Constantia Privatbank pays Grasser's hotel costs

In 2006, Grasser was invited to give a lecture including an overnight stay in St. Moritz at the expense of Constantia Privatbank . According to Der Standard, a press release from the Ministry of Finance said : “The Greens' allegations are described as' completely unfounded '. In addition, Grasser always adhered to the Austrian laws, Pilz had already been legally convicted twice for his 'dishonest attacks' on the finance minister. "

BAWAG affair

→ Main article : BAWAG affair

In the spring of 2006, as Federal Minister of Finance, Grasser gave the Financial Market Authority party-political goals on how to proceed with the investigation into the BAWAG scandal :

• The blame for the BAWAG disaster is to be blamed on a (unspecified) SPÖ network
• The authorities must be washed clean of any semblance of failure in this case
• The ÖVP / BZÖ government force at the time is to be presented as the savior of BAWAG and investors

Well-known constitutional and constitutional lawyers saw Grasser acting on the verge of legality and believed that his behavior deserved a thorough examination of criminal relevance ( abuse of office ). ÖVP politicians and Grasser himself rejected this and declared that such actions were entirely legal, were part of everyday political life and served political self-defense. The investigation by the public prosecutor against Grasser on suspicion of abuse of office and violation of official secrecy was discontinued on April 16, 2008.

In July 2006 it became known that Grasser had met Wolfgang Flöttl, who was involved in the BAWAG affair, several times. Among other things, Grasser spent two days with Flöttl in August 2005 on a yacht owned by Julius Meinl V. This was initially publicly denied by Grasser's spokesman, but the meetings with Flöttl were confirmed after two days. Grasser no longer denies personal acquaintance with Flöttl. Grasser's former press spokesman Lepuschitz is State Commissioner at Julius Meinl Investment GmbH. Wolfgang Flöttl, on the other hand, held various supervisory board functions at Meinl-Bank.

Hypo Group Alpe Adria

According to the Austrian news magazine Format , Grasser is said to have made money on the controversial sale of Hypo Group Alpe Adria in 2006/07. During his tenure, he is said to have invested half a million euros indirectly through the Swiss trust company Ferint AG in the investor group headed by Tilo Berlin , thereby violating the law of incompatibility. Grasser should have reported the investment to the President of the Court of Auditors. Grasser had his lawyer deny the reports. On March 26, Format published a confidential audit report from the Oesterreichische Nationalbank (OeNB), in which Grasser's transactions are documented in detail. On April 1, 2010 the Süddeutsche Zeitung quoted from an email from Tilo Berlin dated December 22, 2006 to Grasser. In it, the then finance minister was asked to transfer the amount for the planned participation in Hypo Alpe Adria. The email also contains the subscription form and all other documents for the transaction.

Suspected corruption when introducing ELAK

In October 2009, a former subcontractor filed a complaint against Grasser and the former management of the Federal Computing Center on suspicion of corruption. The public prosecutor then ordered house searches in the data center and at Siemens. The Court of Auditors had previously pointed out the additional costs of 300 million euros that had been incurred since 2001 compared to the budget estimate and criticized the excessive expenditure for the electronic file (ELAK), which was not offset by any efficiency gains.

Investigations into possible money laundering

In the course of the National Bank's audit report, the Financial Market Authority (FMA) initiated special investigations into possible violations of money laundering regulations . It is being examined whether Grasser and Ferint AG violated Section 40 of the Banking Act when participating in the sale of Hypo Group Alpe Adria . The “due diligence requirements for combating money laundering and terrorist financing” are laid down in it.

tax evasion

At the end of January 2011 it was announced that Grasser filed a voluntary disclosure with Finanz in autumn 2010 . From 2002 to 2008 - also during his time as finance minister - he did not pay tax on income from speculative profits and dividends. Grasser has now paid the tax liability of 18,000 euros. Possible further tax debts from before 2002 are already statute barred.

The finance has "the concrete suspicion of a tax evasion regarding sales tax, income tax and capital gains tax", about the "settled in tax havens" Silverland Foundation, the Levesque Holding and the Gemain Limited. At the hearing by the public prosecutor's office, Grasser's former tax advisor had claimed that between 2007 and 2009, “thanks to Julius Meinl”, Grasser earned 8.45 million euros, of which, however, 5.376 million euros were not taxed.

Libel proceedings

On July 25, 2012, Grasser was sentenced to a fine of 5,000 euros for libel at the Vienna Regional Court for Civil Law Matters. In connection with the “Buwog Causa”, he described a former employee as “mentally unstable” and said that he needed “urgent psychological help”.

Board game KHG - Corrupt have money

In November 2015, the board game KHG - Korrupte Have Money was presented at the Vienna Games Festival . In this game, the first edition of which was financed by crowdfunding , the players cheat and suppress until “the treasury is empty”. The rules of the game say: “Of course, the presumption of innocence always applies. Everything is allowed that is not explicitly forbidden. ”The ORF stated that the game resembled“ Monopoly in a certain way - but you won't get far with legal means. ”The bag for the game bears the imprint:“ Wos woar mei achievement? ”Karl -Heinz Grasser sued the two game developers - Klaus Hofegger and Christian Felsenreich - among other things for "violation of his name and personal rights". In June 2016, the Vienna Regional Court for Civil Law Matters dismissed the lawsuit in the first instance because the design of the game did not constitute “an unlawful interference with the plaintiff's personal rights”. An appeal to the Higher Regional Court of Vienna was not followed, nor was the subsequent appeal to the Supreme Court . Both the second and the highest instance shared the legal opinion of the Vienna Regional Court for Civil Law Matters . The European Court of Human Rights also rejected a complaint in the case on May 16, 2019 as "obviously unfounded".

Mother-in-law money

In this context, it is about cash flows and those 500,000 euros that caused a sensation as "mother-in-law money". Regarding the 500,000 euros he received from his mother-in-law, the former politician Grasser said in the BUWOG trial : “It should be documented that the 500,000 are not my money.” “The money came from the mother-in-law, went back to her ", Explained Grasser later. In the family it does not matter whether it is a repayment or a forwarding. For this reason, he chose Meinl Bank and Ferint. He did not want confirmations for the cash deposits, explained Grasser. For him it was impossible that the Meinl banker W. did not keep to the agreement.

Others

• In 2003, Grasser appointed the supervisor of his planned dissertation, Herbert Kofler , as head of the tax reform commission.
• In 2005, Grasser was given preferential treatment by the Austrian airline Austrian Airlines on his private trip (so-called "upgrading affair")
• In 2005 Grasser's vacation in the Maldives caused a stir when he did not break off his vacation after the tsunami disaster in the Indian Ocean and various bodies immediately denied Grasser's attempts to justify himself: First, Grasser stated that the Maldives government asked him to stay to help with the relief measures . That turned out to be untrue. He then stated that there was no space available for a return flight. This was in turn denied by Austrian Airlines.
• Grasser was also not spared criticism from his own (ÖVP) ranks. In 2005, Ferdinand Maier , member of the ÖVP and Raiffeisen Secretary General, described Grasser's behavior of distancing himself from decisions for which he was jointly responsible as “humanly inferior ”. For him, Grasser is a peculiar form of the I-AG, where "I" stands for Karl-Heinz Grasser and AG for "anything goes".
• In November 2006, Grasser repeatedly claimed to have "recently been voted one of the best European finance ministers in the Financial Times " (quote from Grasser). However, as it turned out on December 6th, it was not. Ralph Atkins, author of the article in question, denied these claims with the words: "I did not mention the Austrian finance minister because the budgetary indicators are not sufficient for a top ranking in terms of the minister's performance." Grasser appears in the list of " most effective “finance ministers in Europe first, but only because the finance ministers are listed alphabetically by country. Grasser's name, however, is not even mentioned in the article on EU finance ministers' expertise and economic successes.
• The Court of Auditors criticized the privatization of the Dorotheum under Grasser, as the sales price was below the actual value.

accusation

On July 21, 2016, the public prosecutor's office for business and corruption announced that it would bring charges against Grasser, Peter Hochegger , Walter Meischberger , Ernst Plech and twelve other people in the BUWOG and Terminal Tower cases on suspicion of embezzlement and illegal gift acceptance. According to the indictment, the total damage caused amounts to ten million euros, resulting in a sentence of up to ten years in prison.

Trivia

• In 2006 the Bild newspaper published photos from the private life of the Grasser couple. In the ensuing legal dispute, the couple were awarded 20,000 euros each in the first instance because of the exposure.
• Grasser was also hit by a Google bomb . His homepage appeared first when searching for the words complete incompetence .
• In 2009 the songwriter duo Christoph & Lollo released the song Karl-Heinz .

Awards

• 2003 Great Golden Decoration on Ribbon for Services to the Republic of Austria

Web links

Commons : Karl-Heinz Grasser  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Karl-Heinz Grasser on the website of the Austrian Parliament
• Entry on Karl-Heinz Grasser in the Austria Forum  (in the AEIOU Austria Lexicon )
• Literature by and about Karl-Heinz Grasser in the catalog of the German National Library
• Advert 2009
• Archive recordings with Karl-Heinz Grasser in the online archive of the Austrian Media Library (radio broadcasts)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Mag. Karl-Heinz Grasser, biography. Retrieved June 11, 2017 . 
2. ^ Munzinger-Archiv GmbH, Ravensburg: Karl-Heinz Grasser - Munzinger Biographie. Retrieved December 16, 2017 . 
3. ^ Entry in the general catalog of the Austrian Library Network
4. ^ Herbert Lackner: Mister Cool and the Gang . In: Profile No. 40/2009, p. 22
5. ^ GQ star portrait - Karl-Heinz Grasser . On: gq-magazin .de
6. ↑ Wolfgang Fürweger : KHG - The Grasser Story . Ueberreuter, Vienna 2012, ISBN 978-3-8000-7527-0 . Pp. 32, 151
7. ↑ "Thankful in my soul" that Grasser did not become Vice Chancellor . On August 24, 2010 on news .at
8. ↑ Grasser: court examines marriage. oe24.at, December 3, 2011, accessed on September 14, 2016 . 
9. ↑ Grasser has found his "main job" . On June 13, 2007 on diepresse.com
10. ^ Leo Himmelbauer: Meinl-Grasser-Haider: A Trio under Electricity ( Memento from September 24, 2008 in the Internet Archive ). On June 13, 2007 onwirtschaftsblatt.at (via Wayback Machine )
11. ↑ Causa Grasser investigation expanded again . On July 14, 2010 on derStandard.at
12. ↑ "Late, but still" . On newsv1. orf .at, article undated, last accessed July 27, 2016.
13. ↑ Innsbruck Clinic . On September 3, 2007 on tirv1. orf .at
14. ↑ Overview of society ( Memento of the original from April 5, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . On powerinternational.eu 
15. ↑ PI Power International ( Memento of the original from January 25, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . On powerinternational.eu 
16. ↑ Meinl affair - Ex-Minister Grasser gets out . On 5 April 2009 manager magazin .com
17. ↑ EANS-Adhoc: C-QUADRAT Investment AG / Mag. Karl-Heinz Grasser resigns as chairman of the supervisory board of C-QUADRAT Investment AG with immediate effect . On September 27, 2010 at aktien-portal.at
18. ^ Ten house searches near Grasser . On May 27, 2011 on derStandard.at
19. ^ Ernst Karl Plech: Grasser's real estate professional . On January 30, 2010 on news .at
20. ↑ Real estate: Grasser leaves Plech , Die Presse, June 16, 2011
21. ↑ Fireside chat ( memento of the original from August 18, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . From: 34th Economic Conference on Globalization: Opportunities and Challenges for the World, Europe and Austria , Vienna (Hotel Marriott) from May 22nd - 23rd, 2006. p. 129. On: oenb .at ( PDF , approx. 368 kB) 
22. ↑ Federal Ministry of Finance in April 2001: Countdown to the zero deficit performance report 2000-2002 ( Memento of December 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), p. 30 ( PDF , approx. 735 kB)
23. ↑ Article in Die Presse , Economist, December 14, 2006
24. ↑ Grasser budget deficit of 2004 escalated . On September 30, 2008 on oe24.at
25. ↑ ^{a b} KHG and its corporate network ( Memento of the original from October 19, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . On January 28, 2011 on format .at 
26. ↑ ^{a b} The foundation and company network of Karl-Heinz Grasser . On October 23, 2014 on format .at
27. ↑ ^{a b} Did Grasser know witnesses from Berner? On July 29, 2010 on diepresse.com
28. ↑ Investigations expanded again . On July 14, 2010 on derStandard.at
29. ↑ Miriam Koch: The public prosecutor wants to examine privatizations of the KHG era and has a lot to do with it . On July 26th 2010 on format .at
30. ↑ Further privatizations during the Grasser era  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . On July 26, 2010 in format ( PDF , approx. 221 kB)  
31. ^ KHG privatizations: Austria Tabak . On July 26th 2010 on format .at
32. ^ KHG ( Memento from June 20, 2003 in the Internet Archive ). Archived version of the website from June 20, 2003 on karlheinzgrasser.at (via Wayback Machine )
33. ↑ Court of Auditors : Perception report of the Court of Auditors - Bund 2005/7 , (GZ 860.036 / 002-E1 / 05). P. 40 ff. (PDF; approx. 442 kB), from June 20, 2005
34. ↑ Thomas Jäkle: Grasser's homepage builder broke ( memento from June 20, 2011 in the Internet Archive ). On June 17, 2011 onwirtschaftsblatt.at
35. ↑ Grasser's holiday invitation puts pressure on Bandion . On April 18, 2010 on derStandard.at
36. ^ Ashwien Sankholkar: BUWOG deal: The property sale was a gold mine for Grasser's friends . On September 18, 2009 in .at format
37. ↑ ^{a b} 46 investors on the list . On January 14, 2010 on newsv1. orf .at
38. ↑ Michael Nikbakhsh, Ulla Kramar-Schmid : Karl-Heinz Grasser under suspicion of infidelity . On July 10, 2010 on profil .at
39. ↑ Grasser: 800,000 euros "dubious cash payments" . On September 29, 2011 on diepresse.com
40. ↑ CA Immo wants compensation in Causa Buwog . On February 7, 2012 on derStandard.at
41. ^ Buwog: Moser succeeds in stage victory against Grasser . On March 24, 2013 on diepresse.com
42. ↑ Michael Bachner: Grasser's nominal uncle system . On March 21, 2005 on derStandard.at
43. ↑ Grasser wedding in the Wachau: The Green MP Pilz suspects a violation of the law! . On October 28, 2005 on news .at
44. ↑ Now also a Grasser wedding a case for the public prosecutor . On December 3, 2011 on diepresse.com
45. ↑ Manfred Seeh: Grasser case discontinued: No charges after marriage . On February 9, 2015 on diepresse.com
46. ↑ ^{a b c} Buwog affair: House search at the Porr construction company . On January 28, 2010 on diepresse.com
47. ^ Andreas Schnauder: Grasser's change of heart in questions of location . On January 29, 2010 on derStandard.at
48. ↑ Ulla Kramar-Schmid, Michael Nikbakhsh: profile online: New house searches in the Buwog / Meischberger affair . On January 28, 2010 on profil .at
49. ↑ Renate Graber: New suspicion of bribery . On January 31, 2012 on derStandard.at
50. ↑ Katrin Nussmayr: Interactive Graphics: The Causa Grasser. On April 9, 2015 on diepresse.com.
51. ^ ÖVP: Grasser oppressed party . On February 1, 2012 on orf .at
52. ↑ Novomatic defends approach. News , July 11, 2012, accessed July 18, 2012 . 
53. ↑ Stickler: Lotteries were threatened in their existence. derstandard.at , July 11, 2012, accessed on July 18, 2012 . 
54. ↑ Peter Pilz : HOW THE BZÖ WAS PURCHASED FROM THE CASINOS. peterpilz.at, June 26, 2012, accessed on July 18, 2012 . 
55. ↑ Constantia confirms invitation , article of the Standard of July 20, 2006
56. ↑ The allegations are "completely unfounded" . On June 17th, 2015 on newsv1. orf .at
57. ^ Criticism by Funk and Mayer . On June 17th, 2015 on newsv1. orf .at
58. ↑ ^{a b} Kurt Kuch: The tax files of the KHG ( Memento from March 3, 2012 in the Internet Archive ). On March 1st, 2012 on news .at (via Wayback Machine )
59. ↑ Ashwien Sankholkar: The circle of hypo investors is expanding: Karl-Heinz Grasser was also involved in the deal ( memento of January 17, 2010 in the Internet Archive ). On January 14, 2010 on format .at via ( Wayback Machine )
60. ↑ ^{a b c} Ashwien Sankholkar: Grasser's million-dollar deal: KHG received Hypo funds through a complex trust system ( memento of March 28, 2010 in the Internet Archive ). On March 26, 2010 on format .at via ( Wayback Machine )
61. ↑ Kärntner Klüngel ( Memento of the original from April 4, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Süddeutsche Zeitung online from April 1, 2010 
62. ↑ New fuss about the data center: Grasser indicated . On October 16, 2009 on derStandard.at
63. ↑ Ashwien Sankholkar: FORMAT Exclusive: Karl-Heinz Grasser submitted a voluntary disclosure to the tax office ( memento from January 30, 2011 in the Internet Archive ). On January 28th, 2011 on format .at (via Wayback Machine )
64. ↑ Grasser is said to have not paid tax on 5.4 million euros . On May 24, 2012 on diepresse.com
65. ↑ Grasser's Ramprecht insult costs 5,000 euros . On July 25, 2012 on derStandard.at
66. ↑ ORF : Festival with 5,000 games "to try out" , November 13, 2015, accessed on June 19, 2016.
67. ^ KHG - Corrupt Have Money , accessed June 19, 2016.
68. ↑ Der Standard (Vienna): board game "KHG" reenacts Austria's biggest corruption cases - derstandard.at/2000015688345/Brettspiel-KHG-laesst-Oesterreichs-groesste-Korruptionsfaelle-nachpiele , May 12, 2015, accessed on June 19, 2016.
69. ↑ ORF : Grasser lawsuit on board game dismissed , citing an article in the news magazine Profil , which will appear the following day, June 19, 2016, accessed on June 19, 2016.
70. ↑ http://www.wienerzeitung.at/nachrichten/oesterreich/politik/849132_Grassers-rechtlicher-Kampf-gegen-ein-Brettspiel.html , http://diepresse.com/home/politik/innenpolitik/5127823/Grasser-muss -Board Game-KHG-accept
71. ↑ ECHR rejected Grasser's complaint against board game. In: ORF. May 16, 2019, accessed May 16, 2019 . 
72. ↑ FIFTH SECTION DECISION Application no. 37898/17 Karl-Heinz GRASSER against Austria. In: Human Rights Documentation . May 16, 2019, accessed on May 16, 2019 . 
73. ^ Buwog trial: Grasser and the "mother-in-law money" , Die Presse, June 20, 2018
74. ^ "Trend": Anton Pelinka criticizes Grasser advisor Herbert Kofler . On November 23, 2003 on ots.at
75. ↑ Ulla Kramar-Schmid, Michael Nikbakhsh: Buwog: How Grasser's witnesses should be silenced . On October 10th, 2009 on profil .at
76. ^ "Attack against all government colleagues" . On newsv1. orf .at
77. ↑ Ranking misunderstood . On newsv1. orf .at
78. ↑ Guide to eurozone finance ministers . On November 1, 2006 ft .com (. Barrier-free and may only via Google - Cache available)
79. ^ Court of Auditors: Grasser sold Dorotheum . On August 23, 2012 on derStandard.at
80. ^ The Grasser case is now turning into a monster trial , Kronen Zeitung, July 21, 2016
81. ^ Allegations of corruption: charges against Grasser, Meischberger and 14 other people in Causa Buwog and Linz Terminal Tower. derStandard.at, July 21, 2016, accessed on July 21, 2016 . 
82. ^ "Bild" mocks Austrian finance minister. bildblog.de , May 5, 2006, accessed on February 2, 2011 . 
83. ↑ Widespread and confusing On February 11, 2011 on wienerzeitung .at
84. ↑ Sorry. On February 11, 2011 on derStandard.at
85. ↑ List of all decorations awarded by the Federal President for services to the Republic of Austria from 1952 (PDF; 6.9 MB)