Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz is under investigation over claims that government money was used in a corrupt deal to ensure positive coverage in a tabloid newspaper, prosecutors announced, writes France24.

A statement from prosecutors said raids had been carried out in several locations, including two government ministries, as part of the probe, the latest legal headache for Kurz and his right-wing People’s Party (OeVP).

Finance Minister Gernot Bluemel confirmed that a raid had taken place at his ministry, and Austrian media reported that the chancellery was also one of the locations targeted.

Prosecutors say that Kurz and nine other individuals, as well as three organisations, are under investigation over the affair.

The essence of the allegations is that between 2016 and 2018, “resources from the finance ministry were used to finance partially manipulated opinion polls that served an exclusively party political interest”.