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Haider 'eyed Iraq cooperation in 2008'

Late right-wing leader J�rg Haider tried to create business connections between the province of Carinthia and Iraq two years after the execution of dictator Saddam Hussein, it has been claimed.

Viennese newspaper Die Presse reports today (Mon) it has gotten hold of a letter by the late Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZ�) founder inviting Iraqi Minister of Oil Hussain al-Shahristani to Carinthia in March 2008.

Haider expressed a wish for "cooperation between Iraq and Carinthia, considering once intense Arabian-Austrian relations", according to the document.

Die Presse claims the Iraqi politician did not accept the invitation extended just around half a year before early general elections were held in Austria. Haider�s BZ� garnered a sensational 10.7 per cent, up by 6.6 percentage points from 2006. The former Freedom Party (FP�) leader acted as front runner of the party he had founded in 2005. Haider died after a boozy night out in a car crash in October 2008.

Al-Shahristani was arrested by Hussein�s henchmen in 1980 and subsequently tortured at the infamous Abu Ghraib prison.

Austrian media have been speculating that Haider financed his new party with money received by Hussein and Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi after profil claimed a few weeks ago that around five million Euros had been discovered in Liechtenstein.

The magazine reported that an overall 45 million Euros were once hoarded in anonymous accounts in the principality bordering Austria before Haider allies lost most of it in risky investments.

Those claims come amid reports by the BZ� admitting bottlenecks, while FP� officials claimed Haider had left the party close to bankruptcy when all FP� ministers and he walked out to form the BZ� five years ago.

BZ� chief Josef Bucher and FP� leader Heinz-Christian Strache have demanded that all claims and speculation about money from Iraq and Libya be clarified.

BZ� Styria boss Gerald Grosz has meanwhile compared Austrian media to infamous Third Reich newspaper Der St�rmer. Grosz claimed some dailies, magazines and TV stations were only trying to harm Haider�s reputation years after his death, adding that their actions reminded him of the Nazis� persecution of Jewish people in the 1930s and 1940s.

Meanwhile, a Carinthian businessman has confirmed reports that Haider received money from Hussein. Franz Limpl, who has been working and living in Iraqi capital Baghdad for more than 25 years, organised the right-wing politician�s controversial trips to the country.

Limpl told profil that Haider had received 500,000 US dollars (393,000 Euros) after his controversial 2002 meeting with the feared dictator before getting a further two million US dollars (1.574 million Euros).

Limpl claimed that then Haider spokesman Karl-Heinz Petritz had complained after the first payment. "He had expected one to two million (US) dollars," Limpl told profil.

The entrepreneur explained: "The money was transferred to Petritz by an Iraqi businessman living in St. Veit an der Glan (in Carinthia). After (Haider�s) second visit (to Iraq), two million US dollars were paid."

Limpl added: "Petritz told me that empty party coffers had to be filled to have money for election campaigns and marketing campaigns at hand."

A 2008 document by the Iraqi interior ministry leaked to the press says that Haider and the BZ�'s Edwald (sic) Stadler "received the amount of five million US Dollars (3.96 million Euros) from Saddam Hussein against their services to him".

While BZ� officials claimed the document was fake, Austrian newspapers said Hussein hoped to improve his image in Europe by meeting Haider.

The controversial politician had branded former US President George W. Bush and ex-British Prime Minister Tony Blair "war criminals" over their decision to invade Iraq. Haider also spoke out against Hussein�s execution.

The late Carinthian governor always claimed that he had met with Hussein to create business connections between Iraq and Carinthia. Austrian �1 radio however claimed not a single order or any cooperation resulted from the meetings.

Prosecutors in Austrian and Liechtenstein have remained tight-lipped about the speculation, while some media have claimed investigations of former Haider aides were already underway. Profil has reported that its business writers Ulla Schmid and Michael Nikbakhsh were recently questioned by officials over their revelations.

Austrian Times

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