The process of appointing the founding president of the Linz Institute of Digital Sciences Austria (IDSA) continues to cause a stir. Like “Press” and “Oö. News” reported online tonight, a new report by criminal law professor Kurt Schmoller suggests the suspicion of abuse of office in the Ministry of Education. The newspapers said from there that Minister Martin Polaschek (ÖVP) had the financial prosecutor examine the allegations.
The work of the founding convention of the IDSA, the planned Technical University for Digitization, was characterized by delays and background noise: The Rector of the University of Applied Arts, Gerald Bast, resigned his mandate in the convention one day before the hearings, three members abstained from the voting for bias.
Two opinions submitted
After the decision in favor of Graz TU professor Stefanie Lindstaedt, the Fabasoft boss Helmut Fallmann, who was seconded by the state of Upper Austria, resigned and lodged a supervisory complaint with the ministry.
Fallmann initially argued with an expert opinion by the constitutional lawyer Heinz Mayer, who came to the conclusion that Lindstaedt’s appointment was illegal. The ministry checked and found that the election had been carried out correctly.
According to media reports, Fallmann has now submitted another report, this time by Schmoller. This concludes that in the case of Polaschek, “weighty arguments speak in favor of the fact that continuing to fail to exercise legal supervision justifies a criminal abuse of office”.
No details on studies known
However, the allegations would relate to legal concerns “which have already been examined in detail and for which no illegality has been found,” countered the minister’s office. Nevertheless, we want to shed light on the events again.
The IDSA goes back to an idea by ex-Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) from 2020. According to the current plan, teaching is to start in the coming winter semester. However, no details on curricula etc. are known.
