Karl-Heinz Grasser
Karl-Heinz Grasser (born 2 January 1969) is a former Austrian politician (FPÖ at first and later associated with but never officially a member of the ÖVP), who held the office of Austrian Finance Minister from February 2000 to January 2007 as a member of the two subsequent governments of Wolfgang Schüssel. While at the time praised by many for consolidating Austria's budget, he has since then been known for his involvement in major corruption scandals. In 2020, Grasser was sentenced to 8 years in prison for corruption. For some time, he was also some kind of a jet set person after marrying Fiona Swarovski, the heir of the Swarovski crystal manufacturers in Tyrol, Austria. Early career He was born in Klagenfurt, Carinthia, where he studied business administration at the University of Klagenfurt from 1988 to 1992. He soon joined the far right nationalist Austrian Freedom Party and became the second deputy governor of Carinthia in 1994, but after a dispute with his mentor, Jörg Haider, he left politics to work for Magna Europe as a vice president for human resources and public relations. Minister of finance However, in 2000 he returned to politics, when a coalition was formed between the Austrian People's Party and the Freedom Party. At that time, he was the youngest minister of finance ever to hold office in Austria. When the coalition broke up in 2002, Grasser left his party, but after national elections in November and the reestablishment of the coalition under the lead of a strengthened People's Party, Grasser again became minister, this time being nominated by the People's Party. Grasser remains a controversial figure. While supporters argue that he successfully consolidated Austria's budget deficit, critics see him as incompetent and an opportunist. Grasser's policies and philosophy as a finance minister suggest a neoliberal stance. He is a self-proclaimed follower of the Austrian School of economics. His immaculate appearance, his smooth-talking dynamism, and his yuppie antics have made him hugely popular with the public. During the early year of his tenure as Finance Minister, he was generally perceived as the young and competent figure needed to shake up the traditional ways of the ruling parties that were becoming increasingly unpopular. From early on in Grasser's tenure as Finance Minister there have been recurring suspicions of backroom deals between Grasser and some of his political and business friends. The first major case was the affair behind the financing of Grasser's personal homepage in 2004. Corruption allegations Meanwhile, in January 2011, new and continuing investigations by Austrian district attorneys into suspicions of kickback schemes and backroom deals and, in certain cases, alleged manipulation of federal spending figures to syphon money to his allies have brought Grasser in front of the Austrian media once more. These reports have been spearheaded by the Vienna weekly Der Falter. More details on the allegations can be found on Wikipedia in German. Grasser maintains his innocence on all counts. Regardless of the outcome of the large number of court cases filed