The former bank director was sentenced to several years in prison in 2008 in the course of the Bawag trial for covering up interest rate and currency speculation. As a reason for the conviction, the court cited the donation of 500,000 euros in cash to the then head of the Konsum department store chain.
At the time, the prosecution put the total damage at 1.5 billion euros and ultimately led to the sale of the bank. The affair went down as one of the biggest financial scandals in Austrian post-war history.
After four and a half years he was released from prison for health reasons. As of 2015, he sought a retrial.
Elsner spent the last years of his life with his wife Ruth in Bad Reichenhall, Germany, where he also died. He will be buried there on Friday afternoon.
Source: Nachrichten
