Austrian challenges in private-toprivate corruption investigations
ANDREAS WIESELTHALER
DIRECTOR
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Structure of the Presentation
01
The Case
Short presentation of the complex
investigations and detailed resources
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Challenges/ Learnings
Practical experiences and common
loopholes to overcome
1. The “Telekom Case”
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Main Austrian govtl. owned tc-provider
Aftermath of the financial crisis 2008
Biggest national corruption case of the last 50 yrs
Triggered by 4 suspicious invoices 2010
Executive “shitlist” found
Witness immunity granted
Unfolded quickly 2011 Media assigned numbers I to VII
Parliamentary Committee Oct 2011 – Oct 2012
Information disclosure at early stages of the investigation
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2. Main Offences
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aggravated breach of trust and bribery,
fraud, the giving and acceptance of gifts,
abuse of authority,
sweetening,
money laundering,
fraudulent practices, coercion,
false testimony,
advertorials,
dissipation of state assets and secret media subsidies,
And:…….
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3. Other Offences
… direct illegal payments to political parties and associated
organizations, buying laws, inflated payments to
consultants, illegal lobbying activities, the procurement of
inflated information campaigns, trading of influence, stock
market manipulations, manipulations in order to buy shares
of foreign telecommunication providers, the establishment
of a radio network of the public authorities connecting all
Austrian emergency services, easing the gambling
monopoly, inflated payments for expert opinions, exorbitant
rents for governmental leasing contracts, unlawful awarding
of citizenships, bribing the union representatives of the
supervisory board, luxury trips and hunting invitations…
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4. Outcome of the Cases
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Nearly all political parties involved
Broad societal discussion on corruption
Altered the perception of the public
Exposed political elite-networks (Johnston: “influence
markets”)
Several new laws and regulations on media cooperation
and media subsidies, funding of political parties and
campaigns
Parliamentary committee: right to propose as a minority
right
Convictions
Investigation/prosecution on-going
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5. Investigations
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17 Prosecutors
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20 Investigators (6-8 average)
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25 different case-areas
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5 MP immunity suspended
 950 binders of investigative documentary
2050 binders of relevant evidence
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2 external storage facilities
 391 prosecutors orders for BAK
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14 wiretappings
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6. Investigations cont.
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2 IT-telecommunication surveillances
(> 350 TB, equivalent to 35,7 million pages)
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2 observations
 23 bank accounts opened
 50 house searches
 100 confiscations
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1st case of granted witness-immunity
CFO Gernot Schieszler
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7. Public Interest
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8. Challenges / Learnings I
• Complex case
• High media interest
• Prominent offenders (prominent politicians, high profile
business people, lobbyists)
• International investigations
national interests
ltd. Cooperation
political cast
law-protection
• Business school knowledge
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9. Challenges / Learnings II
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Parliamentary commission
Political interests
Leakages to Media (breaches of secrecy)
Litigation PR
Witness immunity
Reversal of the burden of proof
Civil law for confiscation of illicit enrichment
Changes of prosecutors
Investigative and prosecutorial strategy
Key challenge: Data mining in seized materials and not
getting lost!
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10. Challenges / Learnings III
Data mining:
• Search and find v/s analyse
• No universal (out of the box) product
• Don’t let the tailors do carpenters work!
• Connected work roles – investigators and prosecutors
• Have patience v/s decide
• Co-develop
• Find allies with similar problems
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THFYI!
Herrengasse 7
1010 Vienna
Austria
+43 (1) 53126 6800
@ BMI-IV-BAK-SPOC@bak.gv.at
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Sources
• Johnston, Michael: Syndromes of Corruption: Wealth,
Power, and Democracy. Cambridge University Press,
2005.
• Alina Mungiu-Pippidi: Contextual Choices in Fighting
Corruption – lessons learned
http://www.untag-smd.ac.id/files/Perpustakaan_Digital_1/CORRUPTION%20Syndromes%20of%20Corruption.pdf
https://www.hertieschool.org/fileadmin/images/Downloads/research_projects/NORAD-final-report-lessons-learned.pdf
• Federal Law on Media Cooperation and Media
Subsidies: Federal Law Gazette I 125/2011.
http://www.ris.bka.gv.at/GeltendeFassung.wxe?Abfrage=Bundesnormen&Gesetzesnummer=20004546
• Federal Law on Financing of Political Parties: Federal
Law Gazette I 56/2012, last amended by Federal Law
Gazette I 84/2013.
• http://
http://www.ris.bka.gv.at/GeltendeFassung.wxe?Abfrage=Bundesnormen&Gesetzesnummer=20007889