Ex-Austrian Finance Minister Found Guilty in Corruption Case
- Protegee of late nationalist Joerg Haider took bribes
- Grasser’s lawyer says he’ll appeal 8-year jail sentence
Photographer: Helmut Fohringer/AFP/Getty Images
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Former Austrian Finance Minister Karl-Heinz Grasser was sentenced to 8 years in jail after he was found guilty of taking bribes in one of the country’s biggest postwar corruption trials.
The Vienna court ruled that Grasser was part of a group that received bribes for helping the winning bidder in a 961 million-euro ($1.2 billion) sale of state-owned apartments in 2004, presiding judge Marion Hohenecker said in a verdict Friday. Several other defendants charged with related crimes were also found guilty and sentenced to jail and fines.