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Four of the principal accused, named Lothar Rafael, Herbert Huber,
Franz Schmuckerschlag and Walter Vollmann, had fled abroad, the first
three at the outset of the enquiries and the last-named after being
provisionally released on parole. After rather long proceedings, the
Austrian authorities had obtained Rafael's extradition
(21 December 1961) from the Federal Republic of Germany, and Huber's
(27 September 1962) from Switzerland. The Federal Republic of Germany
had, however, refused to grant the extradition of Schmuckerschlag as
he possessed German, as well as Austrian, nationality. Vollmann has
not, up to the present time, been traced.

To this were added a number of difficulties inherent in the nature,
the size and the complexity of the acts complained of. At its outset,
the investigation concerned twenty-two persons and twenty-two counts.
The prosecution was required to prove, among other things, that the
documents concerning the purchase of goods had been falsified, that
the value of the exports had been overstated with fraudulent intent,
that the recipient firms abroad were either non-existent or ignorant
of the whole affair and that the exporters had deposited the proceeds
of the sales in Switzerland or Liechtenstein. To achieve this aim it
had been necessary to reconstruct many business operations which had
taken place over a period of several years, to check the routes
followed by one hundred and fifty or one hundred and sixty railway
trucks, to study a large number of Revenue Office files, to hear
dozens of witnesses, some of whom had to be examined again after
Rafael's extradition, etc. Many of the witnesses lived abroad, for
example in the Netherlands, Italy, the United States, Canada, Latin
America, Africa and the Near East. The Republic of Austria had
therefore been obliged to have recourse to the services of Interpol or
to invoke the accords providing for mutual legal assistance which she
had concluded with States such as the Netherlands, the Federal
Republic of Germany, Italy, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. The
enquiries conducted in the Netherlands, the Federal Republic of
Germany and in Switzerland had in part taken place in the presence of
Austrian officials and especially, as regards those in Switzerland, in
the presence of Judge Leonhard, the Investigating Judge. Delays of
from six to sixteen months had occurred between the sending of
requests for legal assistance and the receipt of the results of the
investigations which had taken place in the Netherlands, the Federal
Republic of Germany, Italy and Switzerland. At the time of the
closing of the investigation the request addressed to Switzerland
remained pending on one point, with regard to which no positive result
was, in the end, obtained, as the Swiss authorities were of the view
(September 1964) that the professional duty of secrecy imposed on the
Zurich bankers in question conflicted with the disclosure of the
information sought. Liechtenstein's reply was received in Austria
only in June 1964.

Firms under Soviet administration were also involved, especially at
the beginning of the investigation: however, it was impossible to
obtain documents from the Soviet Armed Forces Bank through which
settlements had been effected.

The course of the investigation seems to have been slowed down by the
refusal of one of the accused - Herbert Huber - to make any statement
whatsoever before the Investigating Judge.

On the other hand, the proceedings relating to certain facts or
accused had been severed by reason of their secondary importance
(Section 57 (1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure); these seem to have
been later abandoned (Section 34 (2) of the same code). At the time
of the closure of the preliminary investigation, the number of accused
in the case did not exceed ten.

After 21 January 1963, the date of his last confrontation with Rafael,
Neumeister was not heard again by the Investigating Judge who, during
the same period, interrogated Rafael twenty-eight times (272 pages of
minutes) and five other accused seventeen times in all (119 pages of
minutes). According to the minutes of the confrontation of
21 January 1963, another confrontation was planned. It did not take
place, however; in the Applicant's opinion, it was Lothar Rafael's
refusal to participate which prevented this intention being realised.

21. The indictment of 17 March 1964 was 219 pages long and concerned
ten persons, in the following order: Lothar Rafael, Herbert Huber,
Franz Scherzer, Fritz Neumeister, Iwan Ackermann, Leopold Brunner,
Walter Vollmann, Hermann Fuchshuber, Helmut Dachs and Rudolf Grömmer;
it was in no way concerned with the "Kreisverkehr der Textilien der
Firma Benistex" case which was the object of separate proceedings
(paragraph 22 infra).

For his part, Neumeister was accused of aggravated fraud
(Sections 197, 200, 201 (a) and (d) and 203 of the Criminal Code) in
ten groups of transactions relating to very different items: toilet
soap, tools (cutters and welding bars), ladies' clothing (nylon
stockings, skirts, blouses, etc.), gym shoes, leather and velvet
goods, indoor lamps and running gear. The amount of loss for which he
was called upon to answer exceeded 5,200,000 schillings. The loss
attributed to the Applicant was the fourth highest of the accused,
being less than that alleged to be caused by Rafael (more than
35,100,000 schillings), Vollmann (about 31,900,000 schillings), and
Huber (about 31,800,000 schillings), but more than that caused by
Scherzer (more than 1,400,000 schillings), Brunner (more than
1,250,000 schillings), Dachs (more than 1,100,000 schillings),
Ackermann and Grommer (about 200,000 schillings). Some of the
dealings did not concern him at all. This was the case, mainly with a
large operation involving the export of textiles in which only Rafael,
Huber and Vollmann were implicated (more than 25,700,000 schillings,
pages 101-170 of the indictment).
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