Austrian ex-minister indicted over graft
Source: Agencies |
August 10, 2012, Friday
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Print Edition
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PROSECUTORS indicted former Austrian interior minister Ernst Strasser for corruption yesterday over a cash-for-influence scandal exposed last year by undercover British journalists.
Strasser, 56, stepped down as member of the European Parliament in March 2011 after acknowledging accepting an offer of money from a reporter posing as a lobbyist to put forward amendments to a law.
Strasser said at the time he suspected a hoax and that no money had changed hands. He said he resigned to protect the reputation of his conservative Austrian People's Party.
Austrian Press Agency quoted his attorney, Thomas Kralik, as saying Strasser denied the corruption charge.
The case is one of several that triggered a package of ethics legislation in Austria meant to restore trust in public officials before elections next year.
The special team of prosecutors that handles high-profile corruption cases filed bribery charges with a Vienna court after a 15-month investigation that spanned five countries, in which investigators questioned 90 people and inspected bank accounts.
If convicted, the man who served as Austria's interior minister from 2000 to 2004 faces up to 10 years in jail.
Strasser, 56, stepped down as member of the European Parliament in March 2011 after acknowledging accepting an offer of money from a reporter posing as a lobbyist to put forward amendments to a law.
Strasser said at the time he suspected a hoax and that no money had changed hands. He said he resigned to protect the reputation of his conservative Austrian People's Party.
Austrian Press Agency quoted his attorney, Thomas Kralik, as saying Strasser denied the corruption charge.
The case is one of several that triggered a package of ethics legislation in Austria meant to restore trust in public officials before elections next year.
The special team of prosecutors that handles high-profile corruption cases filed bribery charges with a Vienna court after a 15-month investigation that spanned five countries, in which investigators questioned 90 people and inspected bank accounts.
If convicted, the man who served as Austria's interior minister from 2000 to 2004 faces up to 10 years in jail.
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