A story to watch -- Austria's right-wing fanatic, Jorg Haider

[JDPriestly]

hid a fortune in private accounts in Liechtenstein.


Investigators have found shell companies in Liechtenstein which apparently belonged to the late right-wing populist politician Jörg Haider. The accounts reportedly have 5 million euros in them, a fraction of the 45 million they originally contained. There are suggestions the cash could have come from Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.

After the Austrian right-wing populist politician Jörg Haider died in a car crash in 2008, members of his Alliance for Austria's Future (BZÖ) party tried to fashion a glowing legacy for him. But an ongoing investigation into murky financial dealings is casting Haider in an unfavorable light.

. . . .

Investigators are currently looking into where the money came from and whether other politicians had access to it, according to the report.


http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,709737,00.html

I realize that most DUers won't be able to read the information following the names, but here is a list of Haider's extreme right-wing friends.

http://derstandard.at/1277339540228/Joerg-Haider-Lexikon-Freunde-und-Bekannte-von-A-bis-Z

I don't recognize these names, but suspect that a few of them may be appearing in future news stories of international interest. Something nefarious was going on here. Haider was sort of a free-market libertarian combined with traditional NAZI themes. I would not go so far as to say he was a NAZI, but he was very right-wing.

Note that Gaddafi's son is on the list and that he is one of apparently several "friends" believed possibly to be a source of at least some of the money in Haider's secret accounts. Of course, Haider may have simply taken public funds. Who knows? Maybe he was trying to do insider trading but not succeeding? Maybe he put a little cash in derivatives? It's not clear yet but the questions are so intriguing I suspect someone will investigate until they find a few answers.

My wild guess is that Haider was laundering money and being allowed to keep a portion of what he was left after the cash was all through the spin dry cycle.

Watch what happens in this story. The right-wing philosophy justifies a lot of immoral activity especially with regard to financial dealings. Haider's infamous end is a harbinger for how some of our extreme right-wing loudmouths will end. He died in a car accident -- probably caused by his own carelessness. But now, authorities are discovering who and what he really was. There is a moral to his story.

[JDPriestly]

1. Latest on this story.

Unbelievable development here.

Austrian authorities are examining a diary that reportedly details alleged money transfers from former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, to a now-deceased far-right politician.

Joerg Haider, who died in a car crash in 2008, was the head of the far-right Freedom Party before breaking away to form the Alliance for the Future of Austria five years ago.

During his political career, he achieved notoriety for, among other things, a visit to Iraq to meet Saddam on the eve of the 2003 US-led invasion and a friendship with Gaddafi when Libya was still an international pariah.

. . . .

According to an advance copy of the Falter article, the diary mentions a $58.7m transfer from Gaddafi, as well as more than $13.3m that unidentified individuals brought home from Iraq.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2010/08/201083144015177966.html

Watch for the article in Falter.

My intuition tells me that there is something really hideous here -- a right-wing politician in a small country hiding cash not even his family knows about, some of which appears to be from the Middle East. That does not make really good sense. Why would the Gaddafi's give money to a right-winger like Haider? Why would Saddam Hussein?

This sounds like something out of a novel by Dan Brown. Watch this story. There is more here than meets the eye. Someone from outside Austria was trying to fund the right wing in Austria. Either that or Haider was money-laundering for others.

This story will have far-reaching repercussions. Put on your tin-foil hats one and all. There's no shame in tin-foiling about this one.

[SpiralHawk]

2. Even tho Austrian, the dude had Republicon Family Pharisee Values

That's for sure.

[hobbit709]

3. RWers are all alike.