The defence of Karl-Heinz Grasser intends to appeal against the sentence
The Vienna Land Court for Criminal Matters sentenced former Austrian Finance Minister Karl-Heinz Grasser to eight years in prison in a case involving corruption in the privatisation of the housing stock of the former state-owned housing company BUWOG. The judges found the former minister guilty of abuse of authority, receiving gifts in public office and falsifying evidence, the Austrian Press Agency reported on Friday.
Grasser’s trial began in 2017. The prosecutor’s office charged him with taking bribes for the disclosure of insider information to a consortium of three companies that took part in a tender to privatize 60,000 flats of a public housing company in 2004. As a result of this fraud, the consortium was awarded a contract to acquire the housing stock of a state-owned company after suddenly offering €1.2 million more than its competitor in the market and the main bidder to win the tender, CA Immo (€961.2 million for the consortium led by Immofinanz vs. €960 million for CA Immo).
“It is a secret agreement to ‘kick back’ the trustee Grasser to the detriment of the trustee, i.e. the Republic of Austria,” the judge ruled in the trial, referring to a bribe of €9.6 million to the former minister, which was transferred to three bank accounts in Liechtenstein.
Several other major businessmen were also found guilty in this case as co-conspirators. The court verdict has not yet entered into force. The Grasser defence intends to appeal against the verdict, which involves the payment of a kickback amount received by the state.