Abuse of office affairs in the Vienna police force in 2006

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In 2006, two abuse of office affairs in the Vienna police force were brought to the public, which were intertwined with one another with regard to the persons involved. One of the two people involved, Ernst Geiger , was rehabilitated and returned to work as an executive officer in 2009. The other person involved, Roland Horngacher , had to leave the public service.

"Sauna affair"

Allegations against Geiger

The term sauna affair was used in the Austrian media to describe the alleged involvement of the head of the Vienna criminal police, Ernst Geiger , who became known as the chief investigator in the case of Saliera (2003-2006) stolen from the Kunsthistorisches Museum , in the red light district . The Vienna state police commander Roland Horngacher , a competitor to head the Vienna police after the expected retirement of police chief Peter Stiedl in 2008 , is said to have passed on information about the affair to the media.

Geiger was accused of having warned the owner of several establishments in the red light district (including the "nudist sauna" Goldentime ), who were friends with him , of an imminent raid on March 10, 2006 by telephone. The operator of the nudist sauna was investigated for cross-border prostitution and pimping . He and seven of his employees were arrested on April 11, 2006, and several gave confessions. However, the operator was acquitted.

Violinist suspended, later rehabilitated

Ernst Geiger, who had been head of the criminal investigation department since the beginning of 2006, was suspended from duty at the end of March 2006. The charges against him were abuse of official authority or violation of official secrecy . Geiger, who denied all allegations, was sentenced in the first instance to three months' conditional imprisonment on August 31, 2006 for violating official secrecy. On Geiger's appeal, the judgment was overturned by the Supreme Court in October 2007 . Ernst Geiger was acquitted in the newly opened trial in March 2008, and the acquittal against which the public prosecutor had appealed was confirmed by the highest court in 2009.

Horngacher affair

accusations

In August 2006, investigations were started against the then Vienna State Police Commander Roland Horngacher on suspicion of abuse of office and the unauthorized acceptance of gifts. Observers saw this as an internal intrigue Geiger, who competed with Horngacher for the office of police chief and had the complaint against Horngacher brought in by his lawyer.

Horngacher's reaction

For his part, Horngacher had reported police vice-president Michaela Pfeifenberger since September 2006 for suspected abuse of office and violation of official secrecy. Some of the advertisements concerned illegal flows of information to the media that Horngacher himself was accused of. All complaints were withdrawn by the public prosecutor because of the baselessness of the allegations.

More allegations

The suspicions against Horngacher expanded in the following months and included the following incidents:

  • Horngacher is said to have received and partially redeemed travel vouchers worth € 8,000 from the former BAWAG General Director Helmut Elsner , a key figure in the BAWAG affair . Elsner is said to have received strictly confidential information about business partners.
  • Horngacher was suspected of having accepted other gifts - in one case a car - from the gaming company Admiral-Novomatic. In return, he is said to have "slowed down" or prevented raids and controls on privately operated gaming machines.
  • In the case of the Austrian pop star Rainhard Fendrich convicted of cocaine use , Horngacher is said to have sent confidential police files to media representatives who were friends.
  • In connection with a sex affair with a barmaid, Horngacher is accused of improper contacts in the red light district, as well as being drunk at the wheel and disregarding the traffic regulations.

House ban; ban on entering the house

At the beginning of February 2007 Horngacher sent a short telephone message (SMS) to Police President Stiedl that he would “fight to the last bullet” for his rehabilitation. Some colleagues who heard the content of the message from Stiedl felt threatened. Horngacher was (Stiedl: "for his own protection") banned from the Vienna police. However, Stiedl was of the opinion that Horngacher's message should not be taken literally, but symbolically refer to the bitter labor law to be expected to deal with the cause. At this point in time, Stiedl ruled out Horngacher's return to the police - regardless of the outcome of the criminal proceedings.

Impeachment proceedings

In February 2007, impeachment proceedings began against Horngacher. In addition, it became known that this procedure had been started on the basis of instructions from Federal Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel , who was also acting as Interior Minister at the time . Police President Stiedl did not consider it necessary, in the sense of the usual procedure, to initiate these proceedings before the conclusion of the criminal proceedings (up to which the person concerned, however, received an unemployment income of two thirds of the last salary).

Horngacher's lawyer accused the Federal Chancellor, the Police President, the ÖVP , the BZÖ and the BIA (Office for Internal Affairs) of political arbitrariness after the instruction became known.

More allegations

The Viennese weekly magazine Falter reported in March 2007 that Horngacher had to surrender his uniform because despite being suspended from his position, he had been seen in a public bar in uniform. In 2008, Horngacher was charged with driving a car under the influence of alcohol. In March 2008, Horngacher presented a loss report for his driver's license at a traffic control, which he should have surrendered in February because he was stopped after driving in serpentine lines on a motorway.

Condemnation

In May 2007, the Vienna Public Prosecutor announced that Horngacher would be charged with abuse of office, forbidden acceptance of gifts and violation of official secrecy. The start of the process was set for October 5, 2007. In July 2007, Ernst Geiger, who was then convicted of breaching official secrecy, joined the indictment against Horngacher as a private party. Geiger accused Horngacher of having massively damaged his reputation through repeated illegal actions. On October 17, 2007, Horngacher was sentenced to a 15-month conditional prison sentence by a jury at the Regional Court for Criminal Matters in Vienna for abuse of office and violation of official secrecy. On July 22nd, 2008 it became known that the Supreme Court confirmed the guilty verdict and that it is now final. On October 6, 2008 it was published that the Higher Regional Court of Vienna is not reducing the sentence from 15 months of conditional imprisonment. The judgment is final. Horngacher lost his civil servant status by law (§ 27 (1) Z 1 StGB ).

Entanglement of the Association of Friends of the Vienna Police

In the course of the trial against Horngacher it became known that the club's treasurer Adolf Krchov, the right-hand man of several Viennese police presidents, had brought Horngacher an envelope on behalf of Bawag boss Helmut Elsner . The envelope contained travelers checks, and Krchov received one too. The Police President Peter Stiedl , who was in office at the time of the process , saw in the other activities of the association, such as B. the catering at police parties or the provision of police cars no illegal activities. After the public prosecutor's office got involved, the association's president, the former National Bank president Adolf Wala , also suggested that the association would be dissolved, but that didn't happen. Investigations were carried out by the Office for Internal Affairs and the Control Office of the City of Vienna, but they did not lead to any results that could be used under criminal or administrative law.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Supreme Court overturns judgment: New trial for Geiger . Die Presse, October 11, 2007 6:26 p.m.
  2. ↑ Geiger's acquittal: applause in the courtroom . ORF, March 13, 2008
  3. ↑ Return to the police force is hardly possible . In: Salzburger Nachrichten . May 14, 2009, Austria, p. 7 ( article archive - interview with Ernst Geiger).
  4. ↑ New suspect in "Sauna Affair": Investigations now also against Horngacher ( Memento from September 4, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ). networld.at, June 10, 2006 9:24 am
  5. ↑ Police affair: The battle of the chiefs . Profil.at, June 10, 2006
  6. ^ Accusation of intrigue . ORF, May 31, 2006
  7. ↑ Complaints filed against Vice-President . ORF
  8. ^ Austria publishes Horngacher sex files . ots.at (Austria)
  9. ↑ Horngacher wants to "fight to the last bullet" . The press
  10. ↑ allegations against ex-Chancellor and police . ORF
  11. ↑ Again excitement about Roland Horngacher . ( Memento of March 1, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Courier
  12. ↑ Horngacher believes in "negative campaigns". In: oesterreich.orf.at. April 9, 2008. Retrieved November 23, 2017 .
  13. ↑ Horngacher is charged. In: oesterreich.orf.at. May 10, 2007, accessed November 8, 2018 .
  14. ↑ Geiger complains to Horngacher. In: oesterreich.orf.at. July 25, 2007. Retrieved November 8, 2018 .
  15. ↑ Judgment against Horngacher confirmed . ORF , October 6, 2008
  16. ↑ Vienna City Hall correspondence of October 1, 2003 - "16 VW Polos for the Vienna Police"
  17. ^ "Friends of the Vienna Police" before the end . diepresse.com
  18. ↑ "Friends of the Police" . ( Memento of January 27, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 35 kB). In: Police - the magazine of the Vienna State Police Command, October – December 2009