Austrian government presents new anti-corruption law

By Timur Kiraz

GENEVA (AA) - Austrian government wants to expand the fight against corruption with a new draft law, which will remain under review for weeks by lawmakers.

Austrian Constitutional Minister Karoline Edtstadler of the ruling ÖVP party said Thursday in Vienna at a press conference alongside Justice Minister Alma Zadic of government partner The Greens, that the new anti-corruption law is "the strictest in the world."

The draft will now go into an eight-week review.

According to the new legislation, public officials will face legal action if they have previously been bribed in their role as candidates.

This is primarily about combating "advance corruption", explained Justice Minister Alma Zadic.

The background to the new regulation is the so-called "Ibiza affair", with which the former Austrian Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Sprache of the FPÖ party was accused of pledging government contracts for support.

In a video published in 2019, Strache had promised a supposed oligarch's niece future state contracts in exchange for support from his party.

However, at the time the video was recorded, he was not yet in any government office and therefore he could not be criminally charged.

According to Zadic, the investigations into the Ibiza affair, which had led to a government crisis in Austria, had severely damaged the reputation of politics in the country.

Ninety percent of the population now believes that the country has a corruption problem, according to Zadic.

She added that in the future, mandate buying would also be punishable. Mandate buying is when someone tries to get on a candidate list or is given a favorable list position in exchange for payment.

According to the constitutional minister, the new measures apply not only to politicians but also to top government officials. "Their role model function must be reflected in their behavior," Zadic said.

In addition, the draft law stipulates that convictions for corruption will now have a more serious impact on one's career.

In the future, a final conviction for a conditional prison sentence of more than six months will be enough to lose one's office and a maximum penalty of 15 years' imprisonment will be imposed for bribes of 300,000 euros or more.