Former conservative Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz was found guilty of perjury on Friday, following a trial in which he was accused of lying to a parliamentary committee while he was still in office. The first chancellor on the bench of justice in more than thirty years, Mr. Kurz refused to be “knowingly” Misled MPs when they questioned him about his role in the 2020 appointment of a relative, Thomas Schmidt, as head of a hugely powerful public holding company.
“Sebastian Kurz is guilty”, a judge in Vienna announced, sentencing him to eight months in prison, following a request from the prosecution, which had initiated the proceedings. In Austria, interfering with the appointment process is not itself a crime, but concealing the truth under oath is.
“A Kurz System”
The witnesses called – around ten in total, including former ministers – mostly defended their version of the facts. With the exception, however, of the case’s protagonist: Thomas Schmidt, a former friend who is now cooperating with the justice system in hopes of a reduced sentence. He was quoted during the two-day trial “A Kurz System”To say that he liked to interfere in nominations.
To discredit him, Mr. Kurz summoned two Russian businessmen and the final day of the trial began with the testimony of the second of them, who spoke via video from the Austrian embassy in Moscow.
In addition to this trial, the former chancellor is suspected of misappropriating public funds during his meteoric rise to power, to ensure rigged opinion surveys and laudatory coverage in the tabloids. For this aspect of corruption, the investigation is still on.
