When Austria's former FPÖ leader Heinz-Christian Strache used to go to party appointments, campaign parties and private family reunions, Oliver Ribarich was always at the wheel. For 13 years, the security guard was Strache's bodyguard and chauffeur.
Today, Ribarich is making serious accusations against his boss. During his time with Strache, he had witnessed how loosely the party leader had disposed of the money of others. Expensive apartments, luxury vacations, supermarket shopping – Strache had all this financed from the FPÖ party coffers, Ribarich claims.
In order to disguise the fact that he had private expenses reimbursed by the FPÖ, Strache demanded that his employees submit false receipts to the accounting department, says Ribarich. Again and again he was asked to lay out money for Strache – for champagne, caviar or his children's McDonald's visits. In order to get the money back, he had to collect bills from restaurant visits in his private life. This was called "document conversion" in Strache's team. In the meantime, the public prosecutor's office is investigating Strache and other defendants in the alleged expenses affair.
The stone that set the Ibiza affair rolling
Ribarich began to document the false accounts for Strache during his service. One day he showed the material to a lawyer friend in Vienna. What Ribarich could not have guessed at the time was that the lawyer would not let go of the matter. Years later, he set a trap for the FPÖ leader that Ribarich claims to have known nothing about. Together with the private investigator Julian Hessenthaler, he made sure that Strache ranted about corruption fantasies in front of the camera. When the video became public in May 2019, Strache finally had to resign as vice-chancellor.
In the podcast »Inside Austria«, Strache's colleague tells how he witnessed the rise and fall of the former FPÖ leader. It's about false expense reports, pockets full of cash and a party leader who is increasingly losing his grip on the ground.
In the weekly podcast »Inside Austria«, SPIEGEL and STANDARD take a joint look at the big and small scandals in Austria. Together with journalists from both editorial offices, we reconstruct cases and events that move the country. We look into political abysses, follow the investigations surrounding the Sebastian Kurz and his ÖVP case and inform you about an important Austrian topic of the week.