Vienna, Austria
Reuters
–
The Austrian Court of Appeals has overturned the recent perjury of former Prime Minister Sebastian Kurtz and the resulting eight-month suspended sentence, the APA reported Monday.
The ruling has yet to decide whether to claim him for potential corruption-related crimes in another investigation that took him into office in 2021, but it took the 38-year-old into a serious obstacle to his future political comeback, and the ruling has been eliminated.
The court could not immediately comment. Kurz denies all fraud.
“For years, I have faced charges. There have been many court hearings – a massive conflict with these charges.
The case focused on whether he was merely informed of deliberations regarding the appointment of executives of the newly created state holding company OBAG when he was prime minister, or whether he actually made a decision. The appointment was officially the responsibility of his finance minister.
Kurz testified to the Congressional Inquiry Committee in 2020 that he was “involved in informed meaning.” The judge who first heard of the case decided that it was not true, and Kurz took an active role.
“What came out was something I’ve always said: I didn’t tell the truth on the investigation committee,” Kurz said.
Kurtz left the Austrian People’s Party (OVP) and left politics, but some individuals within the OVP hope that he will come back if there are changes to party leadership, despite suggesting that the majority of Austrians do not want him to start a comeback.
Kurz led the party to elections in 2017 and 2019 by adopting a hardline on immigration, similar to the far-right Liberal Party (FPO), which won the last assembly election in September.
He currently works as a consultant and high-tech entrepreneur, and he says he is pleased with his new career.
The OVP, who came in second in the last election, leads the current three-party centralized coalition government led by OVP Prime Minister Christan Tocker.
