Corruption trial against Siegfried Wolf and ex-minister Schelling confirmed

A corruption trial involving industrialist Siegfried Wolf and former Austrian Finance Minister Hans-Jörg Schelling will move forward after a court rejected an appeal against the indictment. The Vienna Higher Regional Court confirmed that the case, brought by the Economic and Corruption Prosecutor's Office (WKStA), is legally sound.

However, the trial will not take place in Vienna as initially planned. The defense's objections led to the case being reassigned to the regional court in Wiener Neustadt. The exact date for the proceedings has not yet been set.

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The objections were upheld to the extent that the case was assigned to the regional court of Wiener Neustadt for trial.

The core accusation against Wolf centers on a "corruptive agreement." Prosecutors allege that in the summer of 2018, Wolf promised a tax office director in Lower Austria that he would advocate for her appointment as head of the Finanzamt Baden-Mödling within the Finance Ministry. In return, the WKStA claims, Wolf demanded a tax remission of 630,000 euros.

This remission reportedly concerned back taxes and interest for the years 2006 to 2011. The tax official, now 65, is accused of abuse of office and bribery for issuing the tax-exempt decree without proper authorization or consultation with the relevant ministry department. Wolf is accused of bribery and inciting abuse of office, allegedly leveraging his connections with Thomas Schmid, then secretary-general and cabinet chief, and possibly Schelling himself, who served as finance minister from September 2014 to December 2017.

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The indictment is therefore legally effective.