Watch the video recording of the talk Corruption Unveiled: Julian Hessenthaler & Frederik Obermaier, streamed at DNL conference Organised Crime – A Global Business.

In 2019, a scandal rocked Austrian politics as journalists from Der Spiegel and Süddeutsche Zeitung revealed a secretly recorded video featuring Heinz-Christian Strache, the leader of the far-right FPÖ. In the video, he offered state contracts to a woman who claimed to be a millionaire and the niece of a Russian oligarch with close ties to Vladimir Putin. Among other statements in the video, Mr. Strache mentioned his desire to create a media landscape similar to what Viktor Orbán had done in Hungary. Just hours after these initial reports, Mr. Strache resigned, prompting Chancellor Sebastian Kurz to call for new elections.

Following the “Ibiza affair,” Austria has weathered a series of subsequent scandals. Investigations have exposed illegal donation schemes, election tampering, and inquiries funded and manipulated using taxpayers’ money. Searches were conducted at various locations, including the Austrian Chancellery, the Ministry of Finance, the ÖVP party headquarters, and the media house Österreich. Consequently, Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz was compelled to resign, as he and his closest associates are suspected of misappropriating taxpayers’ money to purchase favorable media coverage and manipulate fake surveys on behalf of the ÖVP, with alleged involvement of the Ministry of Finance. Austria, once again, is synonymous with a country plagued by endless scandals.

𝗝𝘂𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗛𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗿, the private detective who set the trap for Strache and triggered the “Ibiza affair,” delves into the issues of power and abuse of power in the state of Austria with 𝗙𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗸 𝗢𝗯𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗲𝗿, one of the journalists to whom he leaked the video.