The entrepreneur Siegfried Wolf goes on the offensive in his tax case, in which he is accused. A criminal law report commissioned by his lawyers now sees him exonerated.
Specifically, it is about a forbidden deal between Wolf and a tax officer regarding a back tax payment. The woman should not have gained any material advantage from her transfer, according to the report available to the APA.
The head of the tax office at the time in Wiener Neustadt is said to have granted Wolf a tax reduction, and in return Wolf is said to have asked the former Secretary General of the Ministry of Finance, Thomas Schmid, to have her hold the same position in Baden. The investigations were triggered by chats on the cell phone of the former Secretary General of Finance, Thomas Schmid. The three people are listed as suspects in this case. All emphasize their innocence.
Expert: Facts not adjudicated
Wolf’s side now commissioned the criminal law expert Alexander Tipold from the University of Vienna with an expert opinion on the cause. He looked at the case law in Austria and Germany and came to the conclusion: “The factual transfer from one tax office to another in the same position was not suitable, according to the facts, to bring about an improvement in the financial situation of the accused. A material advantage is therefore to be denied.”
However, Tipold also notes in his report that the facts on which the report is based have not been fully adjudicated. Therefore, it cannot be assumed that “the judiciary that may deal with it in the future would solve the legal issues dealt with in exactly the same way (…)”, writes the lawyer.
