Austria sentenced to 8 years in prison for corruption former Finance Minister

He was convicted Friday of embezzlement, bribery and counterfeiting evidence in an agreement on the sale of thousands of state-owned dwellings, the BBC writes.

The court in Vienna said former Minister Grisser has been involved in payments of more than ninem euros. However, he has denied the charges during the trial process.

Grasser had become the youngest finance minister in Austria's history in 2000, when he was 31 years old appointed to the top post of this state.

The court case that was part of the former minister includes 14 defendants, who are charged with various offences, including money laundering, fraud and counterfeiting evidence.

The court said Grasser and a mediator offered data about an auction for the privatisation of 60 thousand residences. The move enabled a rival to present a slightly better offer to win at auction.

One company had bought the apartments for 961m euros, while three years later, they were estimated twice as high.

According to the tribunal, the winning company granted 1 per cent of the purchase amount or 9.6m euros to former Austrian Freedom Party Secretary General Walter Meisschberer, and lobbyists Peter Hochegger. These two were also sentenced to prison. The court found that the bribe money was divided into three parts into a bank account in Liechtenstein.

The court ruling is reportedly based on statements by hundreds of witnesses, as well as on telephone conversations by the accused, who have been tapped by the state.

The case judge, Marion Hohecker, said: “Those who do business honestly do not need an account on Liechtenstein”, adding that the success of auction applicants has been achieved through bribery and has been enabled only through deliberate abuse of authority by former minister Graser.