Just days before key EU elections, Austria's coalition government was plunged into crisis on Saturday as far-right party leader and Vice-Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache came under huge pressure to resign after explosive revelations from a hidden camera sting.
Media reports emerged on Friday alleging that Strache promised public contracts in return for campaign help from a fake Russian backer.
Germany's Der Spiegel and Sueddeutsche Zeitung published hidden-camera recordings of a sting operation they say took place in a luxury villa on the island of Ibiza a few months before 2017's parliamentary elections in Austria.
In the recordings Strache and his party's group leader in parliament Johann Gudenus are seen discussing with a woman purporting to be the niece of a Russian oligarch how she can invest in Austria.
She says she specifically wants to gain control of the country's largest-circulation tabloid, the Krone Zeitung. Strache is seen suggesting that new owners could make staff changes at the Krone and use the paper to help his Freedom Party (FPOe) in its election campaign.
He goes on to suggest the woman would then be able to gain access to public contracts.
According the newspapers, Strache says that there would be no resistance among the Krone's editorial staff as "journalists are the biggest whores on the planet".
Both the newspapers that published the footage say they don't have any firm information over who set up the elaborate sting.
Chancellor Sebastian Kurz is due to give a press conference on Saturday morning where he will give his reaction to the scandal.
Austrian media report Strache is also expected to speak. He has already admitted the meeting took place but denies any wrongdoing.
He told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung that "a lot of alcohol was consumed as the evening progressed" and that there was a "high language barrier" during the conversation.
Despite Strache's denials, Austrian commentators are almost unanimous in declaring that Strache's and Gudenus's careers are as good as over.
The Krone Zeitung takes a particularly outraged tone, with its Saturday edition sporting a banner headline reading
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content