Image: APA/ROBERT JAEGER
The former board member Martin Pucher and his board colleague Franziska Klikovits are accused of embezzlement and an ex-employee of blackmail. It was unclear until the end whether the seriously ill Pucher would appear at the trial; the court had not received an apology until Monday.
The indictment by the economic and corruption public prosecutor’s office is directed against three people for extortion and embezzlement, the damage amounts to 70,000 euros. The former bank employee is said to have threatened to expose malpractices in the bank when his employment was terminated in 2017. For his silence, he is said to have been handed over cash amounting to 70,000 euros from the bank’s funds – from Pucher and Klikovits.
The investigations against other suspects in the extensive complex of proceedings are still ongoing. The trial on Tuesday begins at 9 a.m. in Hall 1 of the regional court and is scheduled to last until 3:30 p.m.
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