Road-death politician got drunk in a gay bar hours before car crash... and may have been targeted by saboteurs
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 12:58 PM on 17th October 2008
Sabotage: Austrian far-Right leader Jorg Haider died in a car crash last week after being nearly four times over the legal limit
Austrian far-Right leader Jorg Haider's car may have been sabotaged before he crashed, it was claimed.
Haider died when his Volkswagen Phaeton veered off the road in the early hours of Saturday morning last week after a boozy celebration party for Austria's right wing leaders.
As throngs of right-wing crowds gathered for his funeral today, makers of the VW Phaeton limo he was driving insist their car is one of the safest in the world and should have survived the crash.
VW spokesman Peter Thul claimed that someone with access to Haider’s car key could have manipulated the car’s electrics.
The car giants have sent their own experts to examine the wreckage and search for signs it may have been sabotaged.
It has also been revealed that on the day of his death, Haider spent part of his last night drinking in a gay club called ‘Stadtkraemer.’
Police have told Haider's family he had a blood alcohol level of 1.8 pro mille - nearly four times Austria's 0.5 limit.
Thul told The Sun: “It is a fact that Haider was going too fast, but such a speed on that curve is not a problem for the car’s physics.
“The Phaeton and Audi A8 are the safest of all. You’d need the key to manipulate the electronics, so someone at a garage would have to tamper with it.
Destroyed: The wreckage of the car of Austrian Right-wing politician Jorg Haider, pictured shortly after the tragic accident
The Stadtkraemer – which translates to The City Shopkeeper – is a well known haunt for the Klagenfurt gay community and advertises itself on the Internet with the slogan: “Whether old or young, lesbian or gay, the restaurant is always cool.”
A fellow diner offered to drive Haider home because he looked the worse for wear, but the 58-year-old governor of the state of Carinthia turned him down.
Haider headed for the notorious gay establishment after his appearance at a night club, the public prosecutor in Klagenfurt confirmed.
He arrived at a quarter past midnight on Saturday morning, left thirty minutes later and was dead within half-an-hour.
Despite being married with two daughters, Haider was “outed” years ago by the Austrian and German press for being homosexual.
Haider's coffin is displayed in a hotel in Klagenfurt, Austria
He never helped his family man image by turning up at rallies and local events with an entourage of young blond men.
Newspapers in his homeland said they were reluctant to publish “full details” of his homosexuality fearing an outburst of hate towards the gay community would overtake hatred towards foreigners.
According to German daily Taz, many members of Vienna's gay scene claimed he regularly had sex with young men below the age of consent - 18 for homosexuals.
As a result Taz wrote: "These days he prefers to meet with boys from nearby Slovakia" (where the age of consent is 15).
People queue in front of the government building in Klagenfurt as they wait to pay their last respects
Hosi, or Homosexual Initiative, the biggest gay pressure group in Austria, said before his death: "We've known about Haider's homosexuality for about 10 years.
;On the one hand we think it's positive that the rumours are no longer capable of ruining a political career, on the other hand an earlier outing of Haider would have been justified.”
Thousands of Right-wingers from across Europe are expected to descend on Klagenfurt tomorrow for his funeral. Thousands more leftist demonstrators threaten to protest the funeral.
All police leave in Austria has been cancelled in anticipation of clashes.
Experts in reconstructing traffic accidents say that the three-month-old Phaeton V6 was capable of a top speed of 150mph and could reach a speed from 0 to 60mph an hour in 9,4 seconds.
In independent tests it scored top marks for the level of safety offered after an accident.
Petzner confirmed Haider's inebriated state: "It is true, the governor Haider was drunk at the time of the accident - I can and must confirm that."
He explained a forensic pathologist had confirmed the alcohol levels in the dead regional governor's body and added that officials and the family would decline to comment.
Police estimate Haider's limo was travelling at around 88mph in a 45mph zone in Lambichl just south of Klagenfurt.
Petzner added: "At this stage I can only appeal to the media to accept that this was the case and asked national and international journalists here and now to press the stop button on further reports and to draw a line under this accident."
He said: "No one else was hurt on this occasion other than Haider himself, and he paid the highest price possible for his mistake - namely his own life.
"This price has impacted not only on his professional side but on his personal side as well and in the name of his family I would ask that we respect their right to privacy in future on this matter."
Candles are lit for controversial Austrian politician
Haider was a long-time leader of the Austrian Freedom Party. Although he stepped down as the chairman in 2000. He is controversial within Austria and abroad.
He was controversial within Austria and abroad for his "provocative praise of the Nazi era," and the U.S. department criticized Haider for comments that "could be interpreted as xenophobic or anti-Semitic."
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