Former Austrian Finance Minister Sentenced to Eight Years in Prison

Karl-Heinz Grasser was convicted after selling thousands of publicly owned apartments. The charges they sent behind bars were receiving bribes and counterfeiting evidence.

Also, the Vienna Court was so aware that the former Austrian minister was involved in imposing fines and blackmail.

He was charged with profiting more than 9m euros from corrupt relatives, while prior to the tribunal denied the charges and said he would appeal the case.

Fourteen defendants faced the Vienna Court on a series of charges from money laundering to fraud and to forging evidence.

The court said he was involved in a corrupt privatisation scheme of more than 600,000 public apartments.

The former minister favoured one of the tender bidders who paid him and two other officials 1% of the value of buying equal to the amount of more than 9m euros.

The two other officials also served prison sentences. The court found that the money was divided into three bank accounts with Liechtenstein's destination.

Graser's lawyer described the court's decision as a bad “trial” and said he would take the case to the Supreme Court.