The Hindu : International : Joerg Haider in expenses row

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jun 28, 2005

International

International

Joerg Haider in expenses row

ZAGREB: Austria's far-Right leader, Joerg Haider, was at the centre of a financial row on Sunday after disclosures about the lifestyle he led at taxpayers' expense. The accounts of the Freedom Party, which he founded and turned into a vehicle for his career but abandoned earlier this year, appear to show that he used public money to hire private jets, amass large bills on electioneering and run up expenses more than double that of the party's four top officials combined. Political parties in Austria are funded almost entirely from public money. A Vienna online news magazine, Profil, obtained the Freedom Party's accounts for the years since 1999, when Mr Haider led the party to win 27 per cent of the national vote, making him the most successful far-Right leader in Europe. The magazine said Mr. Haider used a private jet to commute between Vienna and his power base in south at a cost 15 times that of a regular flight. —

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