Austria's former chancellor Sebastian Kurz has been given an 8-month suspended sentence for making false statements, the Vienna Regional Court has ruled.
The ruling said Kurz had made false statements to a parliamentary committee inquiry. The court said evidence showed that Kurz had exercised greater influence in the appointment of the supervisory board of the state holding company Öbag than he had admitted before the Ibiza parliamentary committee.
Kurz told the committee in 2020 that he had been aware of the events but had not actively intervened. In the case of the appointment of former Kurz confidant Thomas Schmid as head of Öbag, the judge acquitted the former leader of the charge of making false statements.
The trial was followed with great interest in Austria. The Alpine republic is facing a bumper election year with local and regional elections, the European elections and parliamentary elections, which are expected to take place at the end of September.
The conviction of Kurz, who was popular as chancellor and ÖVP leader, is likely to provide election campaign ammunition for his political opponents.
"When an ex-chancellor is convicted, it becomes a millstone for the ÖVP in terms of corruption and cronyism," political consultant Thomas Hofer said.
