Former Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz was convicted on Friday of giving false testimony in a parliamentary inquiry into corruption by his first government, international news agencies reported. He received a suspended prison sentence of eight months.
The trial, which lasted four months, revolved around statements Kurz made about the coalition of his conservative party ÖVP with the right-wing populist FPÖ between 2017 and 2019.
The Public Prosecution Service accused him of lying in June 2020 about his role in setting up the government investment fund ÖBAG and appointing its directors, including his confidant Thomas Schmid.
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Kurz said he was aware of the appointments, but not “actively involved” in the decisions about them. But according to the court, he did indeed interfere with the appointments of directors, while that was not his authority.
The former chancellor believes that prosecutors misinterpreted his statement before the parliamentary investigative committee. He calls the ruling “very unfair” and is appealing against it.
Second corruption case
The now 37-year-old Sebastian Kurz was for a long time seen as the prodigy of Austrian politics. After his government with the FPÖ, he also led a coalition with The Greens between January 2020 and October 2021. But he resigned due to new corruption accusations against him.
In 2016, when he was still Minister of Foreign Affairs, he was allegedly involved in bribing newspapers with taxpayers’ money in exchange for positive reporting for his party ÖVP. That case is still ongoing.