Lobbyist Alfred Mensdorff-Pouilly, who was convicted in 2022 of money laundering in the Eurofighter complex, was acquitted by the Vienna Higher Regional Court (OLG) on Wednesday.
The acquittal is final. Mensdorff-Pouilly was sentenced in the first instance to six months’ suspended sentence with a three-year probation period. He was also ordered to pay 50,000 euros that he was said to have received for the money flows. The prosecution had accused Mensdorff-Pouilly of having transferred the assets of a former division manager of the Eurofighter manufacturer EADS. The majority of this was said to have been endowed as “a slush fund for the pursuit of purposes outside the legitimate business interests of EADS-D”.
“No money laundering”
The Higher Regional Court now assessed the situation differently: According to the legal situation applicable at the time of the alleged offence, the offence of money laundering would be committed if the hidden assets (the “laundered money”) “originate” from a criminal offence.
In the specific case, however, the findings of the court of first instance did not show that the “predecessor” had received any money from the criminal act he was accused of (breach of trust to the detriment of the company), the court stated in its reasoning.
