ÖVP seeks debate on critical Burgenland holding company audit

Burgenland’s state parliament will next week debate a critical report on management contracts at the state holding company, ORF reported. The ÖVP has requested a current affairs debate, party chairman Christoph Zarits said.

The ÖVP says the audit confirms its broader criticism of the Landesholding, which Zarits described as an “overblown colossus” lacking transparency. He also said Governor Hans Peter Doskozil, who chairs the holding company’s supervisory board, bears responsibility for the shortcomings identified by the state audit office.

The party wants Doskozil to explain the consequences of the report in his role as supervisory board chairman, Zarits said.

The Burgenland state audit office found, among other issues, that 68 percent of the companies examined had not advertised management positions as required, or had done so only partly. It also found that agreed fixed salaries had been exceeded and bonuses had been paid without sufficient evidence that targets had been met.

ÖVP audit spokesman Thomas Steiner criticised the holding company’s announcement that it would continue appointing interim managers without advertising the positions. In his view, this was “essentially an announcement of a breach of the law”. He also raised the possibility of a criminal-law issue.

Steiner said the findings pointed to a structural problem. The Landesholding had grown steadily in recent years, with more companies, managers, functions, contracts and complicated arrangements, while transparency and oversight had not expanded at the same pace, he said.

SPÖ parliamentary group leader Roland Fürst accused the ÖVP of trying to turn the matter into another scandal. He said Doskozil had immediately ordered an investigation and thorough review in his role as supervisory board chairman.

According to Fürst, disputed expenses had been repaid, the internal audit department had been involved, external legal advice had been obtained and control mechanisms had been tightened. Of the audit office’s 75 recommendations, 56 had already been fully implemented and a further 15 partly implemented before the report was published, he said.