Major Property bribery Corruption trial
Wiener Wohnen corruption trial against 53 defendants begins on November 27
45 employees are alleged to have been “bribed” by the corporate network of a 58-year-old businessman. The total loss amounts to around 170,000 euros.
Vienna – A major trial begins on November 27 at the Regional Court for Criminal Matters, to investigate the bribery and corruption scandal at Wiener Wohnen. The Public Prosecutor’s Office for Economic Affairs and Corruption (WKStA) accuses a 58-year-old businessman of having “bribed” 45 former employees of Wiener Wohnen from at least April 2011 to 2013. Seven of the businessman’s employees are also charged as perpetrators or contributors.
During the period in question, the 58-year-old ran a glazing and painting business, a stonemasonry business and several construction companies. He is currently entered in the company register as the managing director of a painting and decorating business. At that time, he mainly carried out orders for Wiener Wohnen, and repair work in municipal housing estates was carried out in the form of “housing lists”. According to the 44-page indictment from the WKStA – which has been made available to the APA – orders for works were also regularly invoiced “which were not carried out or at least not to the extent invoiced”. According to the indictment, this worked like clockwork because so-called foremen and advisors at Wiener Wohnen were in the loop and were allegedly bribed with fuel and shopping vouchers. And in rarer cases also with material assets, in return for turning a blind eye.
Bribery payments to municipal employees in the record book
When Wiener Wohnen was informed of the corruption affair, it assured that it was endeavoring to clear up the matter “quickly”. Internal consequences were drawn in the form of an internal audit and compliance training. A number of suspensions were imposed on the employees charged. Some of those affected left voluntarily and looked for a new job elsewhere.
Some corrupt municipal employees made an “extra income” of a few hundred euros as a result of the machinations in question. Others, however, made a tidy profit. A 57-year-old civil servant is said to have enriched himself with more than 15,000 euros in the form of vouchers. According to the indictment, the bribes paid to municipal employees were recorded in a separate record book.
“After the system had become established and proven to be effective and profitable, it was optimized,” the WKStA states in its indictment. As Wiener Wohnen employees did not determine whether there was any damage at all and did not check afterwards whether it had been repaired and the orders placed had been carried out properly. “It was easy to report ‘damage’ that had not actually occurred and to generate bogus orders in this way”. They even came up with the idea of claiming alleged glass breakage by cleaning windows and replacing the silicone. This gave the impression that broken windows had been replaced.
The trial will take place in the large jury courtroom, with the first rows of seats in the public area reserved for the defendants and their defense lawyers. For the time being, seven trial dates have been scheduled until December 7. The extent to which further trial dates will then be required remains to be seen. In the case of former municipal employees who have only collected small amounts, a diversionary settlement could be considered in the event of a confession of responsibility and a previous clean record. The presumption of innocence applies to all defendants. (APA, 10.11.2023)
Source: Der Standard – translated from the German.
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