Former Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel announced his resignation from politics on Monday. This means giving up his seat in the Austrian parliament, which he intends to do by the end of the week.

Schüssel was chancellor of Austria from 2000 to 2007 and headed two controversial cabinets during his 32 years in the Austrian parliament. He served as head of the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) from 1995 until the end of his chancellorship and has been perhaps the most influential Austrian politician of the past two decades. His sudden resignation is a blow to his party and to his own legacy.

In recent weeks, there has been media speculation that Schüssel or associates from the ÖVP were involved in cases of corruption where companies, including Telekom Austria, allegedly made payments to politicians. Though there is no evidence linking Schüssel directly with any of the scandals.

The former chancellor maintains his innocence and said Monday that he only resigned to make it easier for the Austrian judicial system to come to an objective conclusion in the case.

"No one, including me, can exclude that my trust was betrayed or abused by someone," said Schüssel. "No one would regret it more than me [if that were the case]. That's why we need total clarity on this issue.

"I would like to contribute to the conduct of an investigation which is objective, free from political influence and free from pre-judgment in the media."

Suspect payments

In the Telekom case, investigators are looking into dubious payments of millions of euros to a lobbyist and a strong suspicion that money was channeled back to politicians or people close to them.

Most of those under investigation were once members of or linked to the ÖVP’s then-coalition partners, the right-wing Freedom Party. Former Finance Minister Karl-Heinz Grasser, for instance, is under investigation after revelations that millions of euros were paid to lobbyists and public relations agencies during the privatization of state-owned property.

Mr Schüssel told journalists he did not acknowledge any wrongdoing and that it was wrong to link his party to the allegations of kickbacks and corruption which appear almost daily in the media.

"On one hand this decision has not been easy because I put great emphasis on the team and on companionship. I was the longest serving party leader, 12 years as president,” he said. "And I know how important that is for the whole country. On the other side, I go with a light heart because I always did my job using the best knowledge and with a clear conscience."

Widespread surprise

Franz Fiedler, a former public auditor and now the chair the corruption watchdog Transparency International, said the revelations were shocking.

"The scale of it surprised me. Not that corruption exists in the public arena and in business - that doesn't surprise. But the density of it - that surprised me. And that it was associated with a single firm, or the environment of a single firm. I could not have imagined that," Fiedler said.

Author: Matt Zuvela, Kerry Skyring (AFP, dpa)
Editor: Martin Kuebler