Whistleblower Hotline Is Launched Online

In its fight against corruption and white collar crime, the Austrian Judiciary can from now on also rely on an anonymous whistleblowing system that has been implemented with the aim of obtaining such information more easily.

On 20 March 2013, Austria's Federal Ministry of Justice launched a whistleblowing website enabling investigators from the Public Prosecutor's Office against Corruption and White Collar Crime (Zentrale Staatsanwaltschaft zur Verfolgung von Wirtschaftsstrafsachen und Korruption; WKStA) to get in direct contact with whistleblowers, with the anonymity of the latter being assured. In case the WKStA investigators have additional questions based on a whistleblower's submission, the investigators can contact the whisteblower directly. In that event, the whisteblower is entitled to decide whether they would like to remain anonymous or to identify themselves to the investigators.