Austrian prosecutors target Freedom Party's Strache in probe

Austrian prosecutors raided addresses linked to the nationalist Freedom Party's former Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache and the head of gambling company Novomatic on suspicions of graft and corruption.

The probe centers on the appointment of Freedom Party's Peter Sidlo to the management board of Casinos Austria, a lottery and casino operator in which the Austrian government and Novomatic own stakes, a Casinos Austria spokesman said, confirming a report in Austrian newspaper Der Standard. Casinos Austria isn't a target of the probe, he said.

Investigators are looking into whether Strache, former junior Finance Minister Hubert Fuchs, and others pledged to change laws in return for Novomatic backing the appointment at Casinos Austria, Der Standard said.

A spokesman for the white-collar prosecutors' office in Vienna confirmed that raids took place Monday in relation to a graft investigation. The prosecutors suspect six individuals and one gambling company, he said. He declined to elaborate, citing the confidentiality of the investigation.

Novomatic Chief Executive Officer Harald Neumann and owner Johann Graf are among those being probed, Der Standard said. A spokesman for Novomatic declined to comment.

Strache said on his Facebook page the allegations were unfounded and were a political attack. Sidlo didn't immediately return an email seeking comment. He was also appointed to the Austrian central bank's supervisory board by the Freedom Party last year. The Freedom Party said the probe didn't involve its current leadership.

Strache resigned as vice chancellor and Freedom Party Chairman in May, following the release of a video in which he was shown promising state contracts for cash to a woman claiming to be a Russian oligarch's niece and plotting the takeover of Austria's largest newspaper. He also mentioned Novomatic as a donor in the video, a claim Novomatic has denied.

Conservative Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, who had governed in a coalition with the Freedom Party, was toppled a few days later, and Austria will now have an election Sept. 29.

Novomatic & Sazka Group partner up for Casinos Austria

Novomatic and Sazka Group, both privately-held firms, will pool their respective – already acquired or to be acquired – shares in Casinos Austria AG and Austrian Lotteries. Novomatic and Sazka will then create a joint-venture company.

“Subject to approvals from anti-trust and supervisory authorities being given, the two companies intend to establish a joint-venture company, where their shares in Casinos Austria will be joined together, to establish an evenly levelled partnership and pool the existing know-how in the best possible way for the future development of Casinos Austria,” Novomatic stated in a Friday release.

The deal also aims to solve existing legal disputes related to the shareholding structure of partially state-owned Casinos Austria, the announcement added.

It is unclear the total shares the combined partnership has in Casinos Austria as it was not mentioned in the statement.

This is “the first essential step towards providing a clear shareholding structure to Casinos Austria and making the company fit in the long term for the future challenges of the domestic and global markets,” Novomatic’s chief executive Harald Neumann said in a statement.

Casinos Austria owns 12 casinos in Austria as well as lottery business Austrian Lotteries. It controls Casinos Austria International Ltd, with investments in several casinos and other gaming-related businesses internationally.

Gambler wins case against Novomatic

Novomatic have lost a court case involving a gambler who says he was not responsible for the huge losses he accumulated playing slot machines in Vienna.

A local court in Vienna ruled that the un-named gambler who lost a total of €800,000 over a 4 year period from 2006 to 2010 should have €400,000 of that amount paid back by the slot manufacturing giant.

The gamblers lawyers had the gambler take a psychiatric evaluation which supported his case that he was not responsible for the losses, the court agreed that his gambling ”contracts” for the period should be annulled.

“Unlike in casinos, it’s not possible in Vienna to ban somebody from a slot machine room. And you find these machines in many places, including petrol stations,” the gambler’s lawyer Christoph Naske told AFP.

Novomatic which operates the slot machines has appealed the ruling.