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Austria’s Vice Chancellor resigns over scandalous video footage

At a press conference in Vienna, Heinz Christian Strache announced his resignation from the posts of Vice Chancellor and Chairman of the ruling Freedom Party
Austria’s Vice Chancellor Heinz Christian Strache AP Photo/Ronald Zak
Austria’s Vice Chancellor Heinz Christian Strache
© AP Photo/Ronald Zak

VIENNA, May 18. /TASS/. Austria’s Vice Chancellor Heinz Christian Strache has resigned on Saturday after German media published a scandalous video showing his involvement in shadow financial deals.

At a press conference in Vienna, he announced his resignation from the posts of Vice Chancellor and Chairman of the ruling Freedom Party.

"On Sunday, at the party presidium, I will organize the transfer of powers of the Chairman of my party and resign from the post of the party’s leader [Austrian Freedom Party]," Strache said.

"From now on, my deputy Norbert Hofer [Austria’s Minister of Transport] will take over the party’s affairs," he added,

On Friday, Spiegel and Suddeutsche Zeitung published a video showing Strache meeting a rich Russian woman in 2017 and apparently offering to funnel state contracts towards a company in exchange for funding his party’s election campaign ahead of the parliamentary elections.