Austria: Sebastian Kurz found guilty in perjury case

A Vienna court has found former Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz guilty of perjury and handed him an eight-month suspended jail sentence. 

 A young and charismatic hardliner, Kurz was once hailed as a "wunderkind" of Europe's conservatives. The conviction followed a four-month court case, marking the first time in more than 30 years that a former Austrian chancellor had stood trial.  

The 37-year-old Kurz sat motionless as Judge Michael Radasztics announced the verdict to a packed courtroom.

The ex-chancellor is expected to appeal the verdict.

Kurz left politics in 2021 amid allegations of financial impropriety against his office.

What were the allegations against Kurz?

The case related to statements made by Kurz to an investigative committee of the Austrian parliament in 2020.

As part of the inquiry, he was asked about his involvement in picking executives for a newly formed state holding company, OBAG, which was formally his finance minister's responsibility.

Kurz allegedly downplayed his role in the appointments, saying he was "involved in the sense of informed" but did not play an active role in appointments.

But prosecutors said Kurz was in fact calling the shots himself.

They presented as evidence text message exchanges, including between Kurz and Thomas Schmid, a former close confidant of Kurz and senior Finance Ministry official, who became head of OBAG under Kurz.

Kurz denied all wrongdoing.

Scandals taint former conservative rising star

Kurz, once a rising star among conservatives across Europe, has twice headed a coalition in Austria — the first beginning when he was just 31. 

The parliamentary investigative committee was looking into alleged corruption in the first coalition that Kurz, as head of the conservative People's Party (ÖVP), led from 2017 until its collapse in 2019.

Kurz ended that government after a video surfaced that showed then vice-chancellor and FPÖ leader Heinz-Christian Strache appearing to offer favors to a purported Russian investor.

From 2020, he was head of government of a coalition of the ÖVP and the Greens but resigned in October 2021 because of accusations about financial misconduct.

Kurz and his associates are accused of using public funds from the Finance Ministry to "finance partially manipulated opinion polls that served an exclusively party political interest" between 2016 and 2018.

Kurz announced his complete departure from politics a few months later. Since then, he has become an entrepreneur and lobbyist.

sri/wd (AP, AFP, Reuters, dpa)