Mr. Kurz was found guilty of lying during a parliamentary inquiry and received an eight-month suspended sentence.
After a four-month trial, former Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz was found guilty of perjury in a Vienna court and sentenced to eight months' probation.
The former leader, once hailed as a “prodigy” of European conservatives, has denied that he downplayed his influence over executive appointments at state-owned holding company OBAG when he was prime minister, and his appointment was a mere formality. was the responsibility of the Minister of Finance.
However, the corruption case against Kurz centered on Kurz's testimony before a parliamentary committee that he was “involved in the sense of receiving information” but did not play an active role in the appointment. Ta.
But the court agreed with prosecutors that Kurz was in fact the final decision-maker, noting that the text messages and former advocate turned state witness Thomas Schmidt (the first head of OBAG) He submitted evidence such as testimony.
The trial and other ongoing corruption investigations have tarnished the charismatic hardliner's reputation and undermined his chances of a political comeback.
In 2017, at the age of 31, Kurz became one of the world's youngest leaders and formed a coalition with the far-right Freedom Party (FPO).
The coalition collapsed in 2019 amid a scandal in which FPO leaders were caught in a video sting. Kurz then won a snap election and formed a coalition with the Green Party, but a corruption investigation later forced Kurz to resign in 2021.
However, his Austrian People's Party continues to lead the government under current Chancellor Karl Nehammer.
Mr Kurz has maintained his innocence of misleading a parliamentary inquiry investigating a wide-ranging corruption scandal that brought down the far-right's first government in 2019.
Throughout the trial, he portrayed himself as a victim of selective prosecution and opponents seeking to “crush him.”
Mr. Kurz said he had been informed of Mr. Schmidt's appointment but did not make the decision, denying suggestions that Mr. Schmidt tried to control everything.
Meanwhile, Mr. Schmidt testified that Mr. Kurz had established a “system'' that allowed him to take control and exercise veto power over personnel affairs at important companies.
Separately, prosecutors are investigating Kurz on suspicion of embezzling public funds to boost his image and pay for the positive press coverage that brought him success in 2017.
But so far, no convictions have been filed since a video was released in 2019 showing Kurz's then-FPO deputy chancellor offering public contracts to purported Russian investors for campaign support. has not been obtained.
After leaving politics, the Conservatives have fallen to second or third place in opinion polls in an election year and are likely to lose seats in this year's parliamentary elections, with Kurz ultimately returning to the leadership. There is widespread speculation that this may happen. And reverse your fate.
However, opinion polls show that a clear majority of Austrians do not want him to return to power, and Kurz says he is happy as a businessman and is currently involved in a number of private international companies. Ta.
