calmar 22,768 Posted May 19, 2019 Share Posted May 19, 2019 This past Friday, 17 May, Der Spiegel and Süddeutsche Zeittung published a report that they had been made aware of a video filmed two years ago on the island of Ibiza, in Spain. The video shows five individuals, two of which are Heinz-Christian Strache, (now former) Vice-Chancellor of Austria and the leader of the right-wing, nationalist Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), and Johann Gudenus, a deputy leader of the party. The video shows Strache and Gudenus along with a woman posing as the daughter of a Russian oligarch who offers the FPÖ positive news coverage in Russia (for the 2017 Austrian election) in exchange for business contracts. Strache told the putative investor that he had visited Russia on multiple occasions and that he had had meetings with advisers of Russia′s president Vladimir Putin with a view to forging ″strategic collaboration″ (Der Spiegel). He agreed to the woman's suggestion that she might help his party in the 2017 election by buying the mass-circulation tabloid, the Kronen Zeitung; Strache further suggested that she donate funds through their party associations that would be difficult to audit. During the conversation in the footage, Strache said he had contacts with Israelis who opposed left-wing politics in Israel, and that he had been invited to China to promote business between Austria and China. Strache appears to have said that the companies Glock Ges.m.b.H. and Novomatic, and investors Heidi Goëss-Horten and René Benko, had made large donations to both the FPÖ and the ÖVP using nonprofit associations, an allegation that all have denied. Strache also said that Hans Peter Haselsteiner, a major shareholder of the construction company Strabag, would no longer receive commissions by government. Der Spiegel and Süddeutsche Zeitung reported that they did not know the identity or motives of the woman who recorded the video and provided it to them. In the video, Strache is recorded to have said he wanted to "build a media landscape like Orbán['s] Hungary" (using the media as a mouthpiece for far-right government propaganda instead of encouraging freedom of speech.) As a result of the video coming to light, both Strache and Gudenus have resigned from all posts they hold, and the current coalition government in Austria has collapsed, with calls for a new election as early as September. https://www.spiegel.de/video/fpoe-chef-heinz-christian-strache-die-videofalle-video-99027174.html https://projekte.sueddeutsche.de/artikel/politik/caught-in-the-trap-e675751/ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Citrom 652 Posted May 19, 2019 Share Posted May 19, 2019 Also mention that him and Orbán were federals so it’s a brilliant kick to Orbán’s stomach Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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