After the guilty verdicts had been confirmed in the Hypo trial regarding the fairness opinion prepared for Hypo by Vienna Capital Partners, the Graz Higher Regional Court (OLG) has now decided on the amount of the penalty. Court spokeswoman Elisabeth Dieber confirmed a corresponding report by the “Kronen Zeitung” on Thursday at the APA request. Accordingly, the sentence against the ex-board members Tilo Berlin (34 months in prison) and Josef Kircher (one year) was confirmed.
On the other hand, the sentence of the third accused, Vienna Capital Partners boss Heinrich Pecina, was reduced: Instead of 18 months conditionally, he received 12 months conditionally. Something has also happened with the pronounced fine, the amount of the 720 daily rates was set at 50 euros instead of 200 euros.
Hypo had paid the costs for the fairness opinion required in connection with the sale to the Bayerische Landesbank in the net amount of EUR 3.8 million itself. The public prosecutor had taken the view that the Kärntner Landesholding, as the seller of the bank – the holding had managed the shares of the state of Carinthia – should have borne these costs. The money flowed to Pecina’s company Vienna Capital Partners via several sham bills. He was the only accused to confess from the start. The verdict was made in 2020, and in August 2021 the Supreme Court confirmed the guilty verdicts against Berlin, Kircher and Pecina.