• croatiantimes.com
• romaniantimes.at
• salzburgtimes.at
• viennatimes.at
• austrianindependent.com

Today

• Vienna - VESCC English Catholic Mass
• Vienna - Unknown Underground
• Vienna - Cats
• Vienna - Andy Warhol
• Vienna - Laser Tag

© Salzburger Festspiele

16. 03. 10. - 11:00

• more General News news
• RSS Feed General News

16. 03. 10. - 11:00

Fraudster Kretschmer in wheelchair 'for the rest of his life'

Former Salzburg Easter Festival (Osterfestspiele) technical director Klaus Kretschmer will be a paraplegic for the rest of his life, say doctors at Salzburg provincial hospital.

In an official statement today (Tues) doctors said Kretschmer, 49, would have to spend the rest of his life in a  wheelchair and could not yet be questioned by police in the wake of his attempted suicide at the beginning of February.

Kretschmer jumped off a bridge over a highway and sustained extremely serious injuries.

Audit Service Austria recently found Kretschmer solely responsible for embezzlement of up to 800,000 Euros from the Festival since 2006.

Salzburg Social Democratic (SPÖ) Governor Gabi Burgstaller, who chairs the committee responsible for the Festival, said last month that the damage caused by Kretschmer, who was summarily fired on 22 January 2010, had amounted to between 500,000 and 800,000 Euros.

She added that the audit had found that Kretschmer had pocketed at least 487,112 Euros of Festival money "without permission" and the amount might be much higher since the auditor had examined the books only going back to 2006. It also found he had held another job without the knowledge of his Festival employers.

She said that Audit Service Austria would extend the audit back to 2001, when Kretschmer had been hired.

Austrian Times

Related articles: political scandals

1. Coalition accelerates anti-corruption ambitions

   » General News 2012-05-24

   The government is intensifying its attempts to pass a transparency package in parliament.

2. Army pays 2,000 staff for being idle

   » General News 2012-05-23

   The pressure on Social Democratic (SPÖ) Defence and Sport Minister Norbert Darabos is increasing as a new Audit Office (RH) examination indicates a waste of taxpayers’ money by the army.

3. Foul-mouthed MPs might face fines

   » General News 2012-05-23

   Fritz Neugebauer has started another attempt to introduce a system of fees for abusive parliament delegates (MPs).

more related articles tagged "political scandals"

Related articles: business scandals

1. Coalition accelerates anti-corruption ambitions

   » General News 2012-05-24

   The government is intensifying its attempts to pass a transparency package in parliament.

2. Petrol traders plan legal action

   » Business 2012-05-17

   The domestic mineral oil industry plans to sue the government about plans to set up a tool regulating fuel prices.

3. Sickness surge causes AUA cancellations

   » Business 2012-05-15

   Passengers are finally feeling the full impact of the emerging labour conflict at Austrian Airlines (AUA).

more related articles tagged "business scandals"

BMW and Porsche seized by bold burglars
Crooks broke into a house and stole the keys to two valuable cars early Thursday morning while the residents were sleeping.

Lightning strikes two workers
Two construction workers at the new Westbahnhof train station were hospitalised after being struck by lightning.

Mayor land fraud allegations
Prosecutors are investigating the mayor of Innervillgraten in Eastern Tyrol over allegations of irregularities in a sale of land that he authorised to another local council member.

Infra red heating takes off
A new heating system from a Burgenland company that operates with energy-saving, efficient, infra-red light is heating the market up.

Games night hits Vienna
Six Vienna game clubs open their doors tonight for a night full of games including Chess, Go or Tarock. The evening is meant both as a night of playing these games for enthusiasts, as well as learning them for novices.

Silly parkers road rage rampage
A serial bad parker in Graz added resisting arrest and going on the run to his crimes when police went to arrest him for notching up almost 100 parking tickets in the southern city of Graz.

Coalition accelerates anti-corruption ambitions
The government is intensifying its attempts to pass a transparency package in parliament.

BBC tells Vienna stop moaning - and be glad for what you have
The BBC's Bethany Bell seems to have it in for the poor old Viennese.

AUA rules out Whitsun travel chaos
The current conflict with the works committee does not negatively affect Austrian Airlines’ (AUA) booking figures, according to a spokesman.

Weak start for RWR Card
People’s Party (ÖVP) Economy Minister Reinhold Mitterlehner has admitted difficulties in introducing the Red White Red Card (RWR Card, Rot-Weiß-Rot Card).

Jobs in Austria