The Prosecutor's Office for Economic Affairs and Corruption (PIVK) asked parliament to revoke the immunity of the leader of the Austrian Freedom Party (AP) and chairman of the parliamentary group Herbert Kickle. The request is based on allegations of false testimony at the parliamentary investigative committee, the Austrian magazine “Profil” reported yesterday.
The office of the chairman of the National Council, Walter Rosenkrantz (APS), confirmed the request for the lifting of immunity yesterday afternoon in response to an investigation by the Austrian news agency APA.
According to the indictment, Kickle told several lies when he appeared before the investigative committee on April 11, including about the Klagenfurt advertising agency scandal, as well as APS advertising deals and his relationship as interior minister with former APS lawmaker Hans-Jörg Jenewein.
On August 26, prosecutors in Vienna handed the case over to PIVK, which now wants to investigate it. PIVK did not want to comment on the APA agency, electronic media reported.
“The summoning of Herbert Kickle to the commission of inquiry is a political maneuver that is detrimental to Herbert Kickle personally and to the APS as a whole,” the APS parliamentary club said in a written statement: “Therefore, from our point of view, the political connection is clear.”
/IN/