The former mayor of Rudersdorf, Franz Tauss, issued illegal building permits for years. He was found guilty at the Eisenstadt trial on Wednesday for abuse of office in 19 cases.
For almost 20 years, Franz Tauss managed the fortunes of Rudersdorf as local chief and was also responsible for construction projects in his role as mayor. And there were inconsistencies that brought him to the dock of the Eisenstadt Regional Court. From 1999 to 2016, Tauss is said to have illegally issued building permits in the grassland. At the start of the trial, the defense lawyer suggested that the public prosecutor’s office was conducting a “campaign of revenge”, as his client had been acquitted in earlier proceedings with similar allegations. The prosecutor immediately rejected this accusation as unfounded: “Would do it differently today”, Tauss himself pleaded “not guilty”, but admitted “mistakes”. In some cases, the accused did not even check the zoning plans during construction negotiations because he “had them in his head anyway”. When asked by the judge, he often only knew how to answer with “I don’t know anymore” or “Today I wouldn’t do it that way anymore”. “Do you expect us to believe you?” Said the chairwoman. In the end, Tauss was sentenced to a conditional prison sentence of ten months and an unconditional fine of 7,500 euros by the jury’s senate for abuse of office. He accepted the verdict. Since the public prosecutor did not make a statement, the judgment is not yet final.
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