Austrian arms lobbyist acquitted in 'slush fund' case
by AFP Staff Writers
Vienna (AFP) July 10, 2024

An Austrian arms lobbyist had his conviction for money laundering overturned in Vienna on Wednesday, in a case focused on an alleged slush fund related to European defence giant EADS, later renamed Airbus.

Alfons Mensdorff-Pouilly was handed a six-month suspended jail sentence in 2022 after being indicted for helping a former manager at the firm who allegedly used fake contracts to transfer millions of euros mostly to a slush fund.

He was also told to repay 50,000 euros ($54,000), which the court had deemed "ill-gotten gains".

But the Vienna Court of Appeal ruled on Wednesday that the case had not been proved in the lower court.

The appeal court ruled it had not been shown that there had been an original offence proving the money handled by Mensdorff-Pouilly was the result of illegal activity.

EADS, which became the Airbus Group in 2014, was part of a consortium that manufactured the Eurofighter Typhoon, a jet fighter seen as central to Europe's aerospace industry.

The Eurofighter project has been dogged by corruption probes and allegations that governments were bribed in return for contracts.

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