03. 09. 10. - 15:00

Strache on Hussein-Haider files as Vienna stink bomb campaign starts

Freedom Party (FPÖ) leader Heinz-Christian Strache has revealed having been offered files allegedly confirming Jörg Haider received money from late Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Strache – who took over as party chief when Haider left the FPÖ to set up the Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ) in 2005 – said today (Fri): "We were offered these documents. We rejected them after checking their authenticity."

He further explained: "I cannot determine whether these files are real or not. There have always been speculations. But we must not evaluate rumours."

BZÖ boss Josef Bucher recently also claimed the 2008 documents allegedly describing the transaction of millions of US dollars from Hussein’s regime to Haider and the BZÖ’s Ewald Stadler in 2002 were fakes.

Both Strache and Bucher stressed every unclear aspect of the alleged transactions – uncovered by weekly magazine profil – must be clarified.

Rumour has it that Haider splashed out vast amounts of the money on election campaigns. FPÖ officials claimed the party was massively in the red when Haider walked out five years ago, while the BZÖ has admitted financial difficulties several times since Haider founded it.

Franz Limpl, an Austrian businessman who started doing business in Iraqi capital Baghdad in 1981, recently told profil money had been transferred following Haider’s gatherings with Hussein. Limpl organised the meeting.

Referring to claims today’s FPÖ board could have been involved in alleged payments from Hussein and Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi, Strache said today: "My party is clean. Everyone knows that the Strache party is the cleanest party of Austria."

The right-winger pointed out the FPÖ suggested the introduction of a special commission to investigate claims Haider – who died in a boozy car accident in October 2008 – had stashed 45 million Euros on several secret accounts in Liechtenstein.

Strache added he was also convinced Carinthian Freedom Party (FPK) Governor Gerhard Dörfler – whose faction cooperates with the FPÖ – was not involved.

Linz-based pollsters Market found 72 per cent of Austrians were convinced the speculations about transactions from Iraq and Libya – which dominated headlines in Austria this summer – were true.

The FPÖ faces a make or break autumn as two provincial elections – in Styria (26 September) and Vienna (10 October) – are ahead.

The right-wing opposition party is expected to garner more votes than in the most recent provincial ballots held in 2005.

Its campaign in Styria – where it won just 4.6 per cent five years ago – was hit recently when it emerged that the FPÖ’s provincial branch was behind an online shooter game targeting mosques and muezzins.

Prosecutors said earlier this week they wanted to have FPÖ Styria boss Gerhard Kurzmann’s immunity lifted to press agitation charges over the controversial game.

Kurzmann has previously caused controversy by calling members of the infamous Third Reich Waffen-SS "decent people". He also hit the headlines by campaigning against the introduction of English words into everyday German.

Asked what he thought of the mosques-shooter game, Strache stressed the FPÖ’s Styrian branch was in charge of its election campaign initiatives. "I consider games inappropriately in election campaigns," he added.

The Viennese campaigning is meanwhile overshadowed by a debate over additional mosques.

Anas Schakfeh, president of the Austrian Islamic Denomination (IGGiÖ), kicked off a heated debate by calling for the construction of one "visible" mosque in all of Austria’s nine provincial capitals.

There are hundreds of houses of prayers and Muslim community centres in Austria, but just three mosques with minarets – including one in Vienna.

FPÖ general secretary Harald Vilimsky branded mosques "hotbeds of radical Islam", while Strache announced plans to hold a referendum on the issue if he becomes mayor of Vienna.

Analysts however give him no chances to come first next month. The FPÖ won just 14.8 per cent in the 2005 Vienna city parliament election, while the Social Democrats (SPÖ) claimed an absolute majority of seats (49.1 per cent).

An event marking the kickoff of the FPÖ Vienna’s election campaign turned into a disaster last night as Strache was kept from addressing his supporters for seven minutes due to a blackout.

One protester gave FPÖ backers who gathered at the city’s Lugner City shopping centre a tough time by throwing a butyric acid stink bomb.

Hundreds of left-wingers gathered outside the mall to demonstrate against the FPÖ event which included Strache speaking to the crowd.

Speaking from the podium designed like a boxing ring, Strache said the considered the upcoming Vienna vote as a duel between him and SPÖ Mayor Michael Häupl.

"I’m sportier and fitter. I’ve got more stamina than him – and I’m convinced he will run out of breath," he said in front of a crowd of around 2,000.

SPÖ Vienna officials criticised Strache’s "hate campaign". Häupl controversially explained recently he will not approach Strache about any possible cooperation since "he has nothing to contribute for topics that matter in the future".

The FPÖ Vienna’s campaign focuses on immigration and crime issues, while the ruling SPÖ is expected to stress the high living quality standard the city has – as confirmed by various international studies.

The FPÖ, the People’s Party (ÖVP) and the Greens have criticised the Viennese SPÖ for its "careless" subsidising initiatives and excessive spending on controversial projects such as the new main train station.

A coalition between SPÖ and ÖVP is expected if the Social Democrats fail to retain their majority in seats.

Häupl – mayor since 1994 – may retire in a few years time regardless of the outcome of the upcoming ballot. Federal SPÖ Labour Minister Rudolf Hundstorfer, Vienna SPÖ Vice Mayor Michael Ludwig and SPÖ Vienna councillor Christian Oxonitsch are tipped to be considered as potential successors within the party.

Prestigious political strategist Stanley Greenberg will again consult the SPÖ’s Vienna branch over its campaign contents.

The American, who previously worked for former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and ex-US President Bill Clinton, has advised Häupl several times in the past.