Oh this 2019 timeline. Finish this sentence: Austrian politico accused of spending €3,000 a month on ...

Freemium mobile game Clash of Clans is perhaps best known for its enthusiastic use of celebrity endorsements in its advertisements, which have starred Liam Neeson, Christoph Waltz, and James Corden.

Joining this star-studded lineup is one-time vice chancellor of Austria, Heinz-Christian Strache, who reportedly spent between €2,000 and €3,000 each month on the title, with his former political party footing the bill.

Allegations of financial impropriety against Strache, who until this month represented the populist Freedom Party of Austria, were first made in 2015. According to a memo from the Federal Criminal Police Office obtained by the Kleine Zeitung newspaper, the politico is "addicted"to the microtransaction-powered money-suck app.

The report adds that his username on the game is "Heinrich" — although this detail is almost impossible to independently confirm, as Clash of Clans doesn’t publicly link usernames to real-world names.

This isn't the first controversy to embroil Strache this year. In May, video surfaced of him meeting a woman purporting to be the niece of a Russian oligarch, where they allegedly discussed exchanging lucrative public contracts in favour of positive news coverage.

This event — which was subsequently dubbed the Ibiza Affair — resulted in the collapse of Austria's coalition government, and the calling of snap elections, which saw the Freedom Party of Austria pushed into opposition. ®