The man from Vorarlberg became famous as the “man with the suitcase” in the early 1980s and has now died at the age of 89.
Bela Rabelbauer is dead. The Vorarlberg businessman, who gained dubious fame in the late 1970s and early 1980s as the “man with the suitcase”, died on Friday shortly after being admitted to the Vienna-Hietzing hospital at the age of 89 .
A report on this from an Austrian online portal was confirmed by Christoph Mierau from the Vienna Health Association on Saturday of the APA.
Party donation affair
Rabelbauer gained fame and the nickname “The Man with the Suitcase” through a party donation of ten million schillings (727,000 euros) to the ÖVP in 1979, which she later repaid. Rabelbauer was before a court several times in connection with financial transactions. In 1998, Rabelbauer wanted to run for the presidency, but failed to gather the necessary support either in parliament or among the electorate.
