Ernst Strasser, a former Austrian interior minister and leader of Austria's centre-right MEPs in 2009-11, has been found guilty of corruption and sentenced to four years in prison by a court in Vienna.
The court found Strasser guilty of having offered British reporters claiming to be lobbyists to influence European Union legislation in exchange for money.
No money changed hands, but Strasser, a senior member of the centre-right Austrian Peoples Party (ÖVP), was forced to resign in 2011 when the affair came to light.
The court said that in view of the seriousness of Strasser's crime, a suspended sentence was out of the question.
"There is no doubt that Strasser demanded monetary compensation in exchange for influencing the legislative procedure," the presiding judge said in reading out the verdict.
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Go to the Content Thursday, 23 May 2013
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