Austria’s top court has halved Karl-Heinz Grasser’s prison sentence from eight to four years but upheld his conviction in a long-running corruption case involving state-owned apartments.

Austria’s top court on Tuesday halved the prison sentence handed to former finance minister Karl-Heinz Grasser, who was found guilty in one of the country’s biggest post-WWII corruption cases.

The Supreme Court in Vienna upheld the main charges against Grasser and six other co-defendants but lowered the ex-minister’s sentence from eight to four years after he appealed.

In late 2020, a lower court found Grasser guilty of abuse of power and involvement in kickbacks totalling almost €10 million ($10.8 million) over the sale of state-owned apartments.

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Sentence reduced due to trial length

The trial, which involved more than a dozen defendants, centred on accusations that Grasser passed insider information during the privatisation of 60,000 government-owned flats. He has denied all the charges.

While the Supreme Court upheld the main charges, it ruled that the “exorbitant” length of proceedings – around 15 years – was “unreasonable” and amounted to a “violation of fundamental rights”.

Grasser, who has shown good conduct since the offence, was also cleared of the charge of falsifying evidence.

Judges cite serious damages

The court confirmed an “unconditional prison term of four years” for “legally established facts of… embezzlement and… the acceptance of gifts by public officials”.

“The crimes of breach of trust and corruption for personal gain by a (former) government member and his associates, resulting in damages of almost €10 million, are serious crimes with grave consequences,” the judges found.

Ahead of the ruling, Grasser told reporters that he had been “fighting for 16 years for his innocence” and insisted he had done “nothing wrong”.

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According to Austrian press agency APA, the 56-year-old plans to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.

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Grasser, who served as finance minister from 2000 to 2007, often featured in Austria’s tabloid press alongside his wife, heir to the Swarovski crystal empire.