Ibiza affair
The scandal was triggered on 17 May 2019 by the publication of a secretly recorded video, which was commissioned by Iranian-born lawyer Ramin Mirfakhrai[3][4][5][6][7] (Persian: رامین میرفخرایی),[8] of a meeting in Ibiza, Spain in July 2017, which shows then opposition politicians Strache and Gudenus discussing their party's underhanded practices and intentions.
[9][10][11] In the video, both politicians appeared receptive to proposals by a woman calling herself Alyona Makarova, who was posing as a niece of Russian businessman Igor Makarov,[12] discussing providing the FPÖ with positive news coverage in return for government contracts.
[17] On 17 May 2019, Der Spiegel and the Süddeutsche Zeitung reported that in 2017, Strache and Freedom Party member Johann Gudenus had been offered electoral support by a woman posing as the niece of a Russian oligarch named Igor Makarov.
and Novomatic, and investors Heidi Horten and René Benko, had made large donations to both the FPÖ and the ÖVP using nonprofit associations, allegations that all have denied.
Strache also said that Hans Peter Haselsteiner, a major shareholder of the construction company Strabag, would no longer receive commissions from the government.
[1][11] Johann Gudenus stated in a later interview that the person who made the first contact to the potential niece of a Russian oligarch, and who was also present at the first meeting on 24 March 2017, was an attorney from Vienna.
[22] The highly professional setup of the apparent trap, the amount of time and money expended on preparing and realising it, made Germany's Die Welt wonder who might have been behind this operation meant to create what the newspaper referred to as Kompromat (incriminating material to be used at the right moment to undermine one's enemy), which had been held back for two years and made public days before the European Parliament election to be held in May 2019.
[4] Journalistic research by the Kronen Zeitung indicated that "attorney M." had been looking for a potential buyer for two years, before finally selling the video for €600,000 in Krugerrand coins to an organisation based in Germany.
According to the research, the role of the Russian oligarch's niece was played by a Bosnian agricultural student, specially cast for the job.
[32] On 18 May 2019 at noon CEST, Strache announced his resignation as Vice-Chancellor of Austria and Chairman of the Freedom Party at a press conference.
[33] He said that he offered Chancellor Kurz his resignation from the office of Vice-Chancellor at 11:00 CEST that day, shortly before attending the press conference.
Kurz accepted the withdrawal and responded that he would advise President Alexander Van der Bellen to formally dismiss Strache.
In the statement, Kurz praised the cooperation between the two parties but stated "enough is enough" and thereby ended the current coalition government; he also said he had requested that President Alexander Van der Bellen initiate a legislative election as early as possible.
[40][41][42] On 19 May, following a meeting with Kurz, Alexander Van der Bellen said the country's parties needed to "rebuild trust" with the electorate as soon as possible and advocated holding the election at the beginning of September.
[43] On 20 May 2019, at 18:00 CEST, Chancellor Kurz stated in a press conference that he requested President Alexander Van der Bellen to dismiss Minister of the Interior Herbert Kickl.
[44] Furthermore, Kurz alleged that Kickl did not take the circumstances seriously after he appointed Peter Goldgruber the Director General for the Public Security following the revelation of the scandal.
[46] The resignation of all remaining FPÖ ministers in the Kurz government was reported on 20 May 2019, after the Chancellor's move against Herbert Kickl became public.
A spokesperson for the FPÖ pointed out a party conference decision which stated that if the Chancellor moved against Kickl, all ministers would resign.
At the public prosecutor's office in Vienna, Strache filed a complaint against attorney Ramin Mirfakhrai, private investigator Julian Hessenthaler,[30] and the alleged Russian Jane Doe.
In August 2020, the public prosecutor's office received an additional 5 minutes of video footage which appeared to relieve Strache from some of the accusations.
[63][64][65] On 17 May 2019, Chairwoman of the Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) and leader of the opposition Pamela Rendi-Wagner called for the immediate resignation of Strache and Gudenus.
[69] A few hours after the video tapes were published, Werner Kogler, leader of The Greens and the party's frontrunner to the European elections 2019, said the affair was "a case for the prosecutor".
[71] On 17 May 2019, NEOS party leader Beate Meinl-Reisinger described the scandal as "unacceptable" and called for the resignation of Strache, the whole Cabinet, and asked for new elections.
"[73] Alliance 90/The Greens leader Annalena Baerbock states that "This outrageous scandal shows that right-wing populists despise our values like freedom of the press and the rule of law and are working to systematically erode democracy.
