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