Culture of corruption sparks Austria's creative minds (News Feature)

By Albert Otti Feb 5, 2011, 3:06 GMT

Vienna - When wiretap transcripts from an ongoing corruption probe turn up on an underwear collection and in comedy performances, it is a sign that Austrians are fed up.

Ordinary citizens and artists are directing their mockery against former finance minister Karl-Heinz Grasser and his associates, who are being investigated on the suspicion they took kick-backs.

Grasser, who was minister from 2000 to 2007, denies the accusations that link him to major Austrian firms in the financial, construction, telecommunications and gambling sectors. Neither he nor his lobbyist friends have been charged.

The public frustration with the pace of the prosecutors' work was fuelled last year when the weekly Der Falter published a police wiretap record in which Grasser and a friend discussed how to explain various commission fees to investigators.

The conversation has proved to be an instant comedy hit in recent weeks when a group of well-known actors decided to perform them publicly to packed audiences.

'Apparently many people want someone to be held accountable,' participating comedian Florian Scheuba told the German Press Agency dpa.

The 42-year old ex-minister makes for an easy target because of his glamorous lifestyle, which was the source of his allure as a popular young prodigy of far-right leader Joerg Haider.

While he was in office, he had a public affair with a member of the Swarovski family, the world's leading crystal producers, and eventually married her.

Shortly after he left politics in 2007, he appeared on the cover of the German edition of Vanity Fair magazine, with a pin-stripe jacket draped over his naked torso.

But he also made headlines with a string of alleged scandals. Investigators are probing possible bribes in connection with the sales of thousands of state-owned apartments and with the liberalization of gambling laws.

In addition, Grasser is under investigation for not paying taxes on funds parked in Liechtenstein. Although he denies any wrongdoing on this account, he admitted last month to tax evasion from profits from Canadian investments.

Amid this barrage of legal troubles, the Green party has designed an underwear collection printed with the juiciest wiretap quotes, including the admission that one of Grasser's friends felt 'super naked' because he did not know how to explain money he received from a construction firm.

A website has been dedicated to film posters spoofing Grasser, such as Lie Hard, a send-up of the action franchise Die Hard.

But Grasser has not been the only inspiration for creative minds.

Scheube also performs in a play dealing with other recent major scandals involving BAWAG bank, Meinl bank and an Austrian arms lobbyist who was active in Sweden and the Czech Republic.

'That there is so much interest should make politicians think and not sweep everything under the carpet,' Scheuba said, referring to the widely perceived lack of political initiatives to get to the bottom of these issues.

Meanwhile, Grasser and his wife Fiona Pacifico Griffini-Grasser have unintentionally provided their share of comedy material.

Griffini-Grasser compared her husband's fall from popularity to the tragic life of actress Marilyn Monroe, in a recent interview with the tabloid Oesterreich.

In a television discussion in late January, Grasser read out a letter from a female fan. 'You were too young a finance minister for this disgustingly envious society, too intelligent, too well educated, to well-bred, too handsome and, most importantly, married to a beautiful and rich woman,' he read.

Austrian media have taken care to write in every story about Grasser that he is 'innocent until proven guilty.'

In December, these words were voted most unpopular catch-phrase of the year by a panel of linguists.

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