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19. 01. 09. - 16:00

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19. 01. 09. - 16:00

Haider's BZÖ party to buy crash wreck

The Carinthian BZÖ has decided to buy the VW Phaeton in which former Carinthian Governor and BZÖ leader Jörg Haider died in an accident on 11 October 2008.

Carinthian BZÖ leader Uwe Scheuch said today (Mon) the party would pay the company the provincial government leased the car from 40,000 Euros. Scheuch called rumours tax-payers’ money might be used "shameful."

Carinthian BZÖ Governor Gerhard Dörfler added it was important to keep the car in secure hands. "I want to keep the wreck until all investigations (into Haider’s death) have been completed."

Dörfler cited the investigation into the assassination of former US President John F. Kennedy in 1963, which he claimed had failed to clear up what had really happened.

The Carinthian government had been considering an auction of the car. Dörfler said over the weekend he would probably have the car auctioned to the highest bidder. He estimated the car would fetch as much as 70,000 Euros - which would mean the BZÖ stand to make a substantial profit from the wreck.

The newspaper "Kärntner Tageszeitung" reported over the weekend the remainder of the money might be used to pay for a work of art linked to Haider’s fatal accident. That possibility is also now off the table.

Haider's death in October was surrounded by controversy as was driving at twice the speed limit when he crashed after drinking heavily reportedly at a Klagenfurt gay bar. With his deputy Stefan Petzner's tearful farewell to the "special man" in his life, rumours Haider had been a closet homosexual were rife.

Austrian Times

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