Explosive decision of the U-Commission in the Wien Energie case: According to the three presidents, the data stored on the service mobile phones of Mayor Michael Ludwig and financial adviser Peter Hanke (both SPÖ) are admissible as evidence in relation to the subject of the investigation.
The corresponding committee decision was received by City Hall factions on Thursday afternoon. “The link with the object of investigation is given”reads the motivation of the three lawyers.
As reported, the ÖVP had requested the evaluation of Ludwig’s and Hanke’s mobile phones. This hopefully provides insight into whether the two acted correctly in their role as representatives of the owners of the municipal energy supplier when the company ran into trouble in the summer due to skyrocketing prices on the energy market.
In this context, it is also about the emergency competence Ludwig exercised to provide Wien Energie with a loan of twice 700 million euros – as collateral for the company’s transactions on the energy exchange. At the end of August, the federal government had to request two billion euros for this, which were ultimately unnecessary.
SPÖ against it
The SPÖ had recently always spoken out against the provision of mobile phones. He justified his refusal, among other things, with data protection concerns.
“With the decision of the independent arbitration board, we have taken a big step forward in the clarification of the SPÖ financial scandal. Now it is up to the SPÖ Vienna and the city of Vienna to also pass on the required evidence,” says ÖVP club president Markus Wölbitsch.
However, it remains open which authority could induce the two politicians to make their cell phones available. Ultimately, the U-Commission would have to depend on Ludwig and Hanke agreeing to do so.
