Austrian leader vows to stay on amid bribery allegations
ABC News
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz is denying wrongdoing and vowing to remain the country’s leader despite being under investigation in a probe of suspected bribery
BERLIN -- Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz is denying wrongdoing and vowing to remain the country's leader after anti-corruption prosecutors said he is under investigation in a probe of suspected bribery.
Prosecutors said Wednesday they are conducting an investigation into Kurz and nine other people, as well as three organizations it didn’t identify, on suspicion of breach of trust and bribery. They conducted searches at the chancellery, the finance ministry and the offices of Kurz's conservative Austrian People's Party.
The case centers on allegations that finance ministry money was used between 2016 and at least 2018 to pay for manipulated polls that were published in a newspaper without being declared as advertising. Kurz became his party's leader and then chancellor in 2017 after previously serving as Austria’s foreign minister.
In a separate case, the 35-year-old chancellor was put under investigation in May by anti-corruption authorities on suspicion of making false statements to a parliamentary commission, an allegation he has also rejected.
