{"id":19701,"date":"2021-08-27T23:29:15","date_gmt":"2021-08-28T03:29:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/?p=19701"},"modified":"2021-08-27T23:29:15","modified_gmt":"2021-08-28T03:29:15","slug":"austrian-ex-far-right-leader-strache-guilty-of-corruption","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2021\/08\/27\/austrian-ex-far-right-leader-strache-guilty-of-corruption\/","title":{"rendered":"Austrian ex-far-right leader Strache guilty of corruption"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i87\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-18snukc-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\"><b class=\"ssrcss-hmf8ql-BoldText e5tfeyi3\">The downfall of Heinz-Christian Strache, who was head of Austria&#8217;s far-right Freedom Party, began with a video sting on the holiday island of Ibiza.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i87\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-18snukc-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">Two years on, a court in Vienna has found him guilty of corruption, giving him a 15-month suspended jail sentence.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i87\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-18snukc-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">He was vice-chancellor when the scandal brought down Sebastian Kurz&#8217;s coalition government.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i87\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-18snukc-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">The video that emerged hinted at potentially illegal donations to his far-right FP\u00d6.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i87\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-18snukc-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">Strache, now 52, was seen promising public contracts to a woman posing as a Russian oligarch&#8217;s niece in exchange for electoral support. Although Mr Kurz&#8217;s alliance with the far right collapsed in May 2019, he later returned to power in alliance with the Greens.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i87\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-18snukc-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">Strache denied wrongdoing, but the revelations paved the way for a series of corruption investigations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i87\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-18snukc-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">He was accused of helping to change a law so a friend and donor to his party could secure public funding for his private health clinic.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i87\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-18snukc-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">The head of the hospital, Walter Grubm\u00fcller, went on trial with him over two donations he made to the FP\u00d6 of \u20ac2,000 (\u00a31,700) and \u20ac10,000. Chief prosecutor Bernhard Weratschnig told the court on Friday that even if the donations were relatively small, &#8220;every euro is one euro too many&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Footage appears to show Austrian vice-chancellor promising contracts for campaign support\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Nz6BeEVVCjc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The so-called &#8220;Ibiza-gate&#8221; video led to the collapse of Mr Kurz&#8217;s coalition<\/p>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i87\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-18snukc-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">Although both men denied the allegations the regional court in Vienna found them guilty, with Grubm\u00fcller facing a year&#8217;s suspended sentence. They have both said they will appeal against the conviction, with Strache declaring the verdict a miscarriage of justice and Grubm\u00fcller saying he was disappointed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i87\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-18snukc-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">The judge, Claudia Moravec-Loidolt, ruled that Grubm\u00fcller had for years tried unsuccessfully to secure money from a public health fund.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i87\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-18snukc-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">Central to the case was whether the donations, in 2016 and 2017, were connected to the former vice-chancellor&#8217;s move to change the law. The law was changed in 2018, months after Strache went into government.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i87\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-18snukc-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">The judge told the court she was convinced that the reason for the donations was as an incentive to Strache to help. The chronology left no doubt that the former far-right leader knew of the donations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i87\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-18snukc-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">Prosecutors cited mobile text messages in which Strache had asked Grubm\u00fcller which law had to be changed for clinics such as his to receive public funds. They also argued that the clinic owner&#8217;s offer of a holiday on the Greek island of Corfu was a criminal offence, but the judge rejected that charge.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i87\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-18snukc-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">Earlier this year Chancellor Kurz announced that he was being investigated by anti-corruption prosecutors over allegations that he made false statements to a parliamentary commission. He has denied wrongdoing, saying he would be happy to be questioned by a judge.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-europe-58354887\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\">The downfall of Heinz-Christian Strache, who was head of Austria&#8217;s far-right Freedom Party, began with a video sting on the holiday island of Ibiza. Two years on, a court in Vienna has found him guilty <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2021\/08\/27\/austrian-ex-far-right-leader-strache-guilty-of-corruption\/\" title=\"Austrian ex-far-right leader Strache guilty of corruption\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6],"tags":[1256,948,8008,8009],"class_list":{"0":"post-19701","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-news","7":"category-world","8":"tag-austria","9":"tag-corruption","10":"tag-heinz-christian-strache","11":"tag-ibiza-gate","12":"pmpro-has-access"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19701"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19701\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19703,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19701\/revisions\/19703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}