The home of Austria's far-right former vice chancellor has been raided in a corruption probe, reports said Tuesday, in a further potential headache for ex-chancellor Sebastian Kurz as he seeks re-election. Heinz-Christian Strache's house was raided Monday as part of a bribery investigation into the appointment of a far-right party official to a high-ranking position at Casinos Austria (Casag), according to media reports.
Strache stepped down as vice chancellor and leader of the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) in May over the so-called "Ibiza-gate" affair, which also ended up bringing down Kurz and his coalition government. Monday's raid was not related to that scandal, but it could further hurt Kurz's People's Party (OeVP) in the September 29 polls. The OeVP is widely expected to once again emerge as the single strongest party, but it is still expected to need a coalition partner to reach an absolute majority in parliament.
In the latest investigation, prosecutors are probing whether a company appointment was made in return for the promise of granting gambling licenses, a spokesman for the Public Prosecutor's Office against Corruption said.