Austrian lobbyist charged with money laundering

Austrian prosecutors filed a criminal complaint Friday against lobbyist Alfons Mensdorff-Pouilly, suspected of bribery and money laundering while working for the British aerospace giant BAE Systems. Between 2000 and 2008, Mensdorff-Pouilly, who is an Austrian count, received 12.6 million euros ($15.7 million) that were withdrawn from BAE through fictitious contracts, prosecutors said in a statement. "In all likelihood, this money was used to buy off decision makers in central and eastern Europe so they would enter into a contract with the company," the statement added. Mensdorff-Pouilly was in 2009 held in custody for five weeks as part of the same investigation and was briefly accused by British authorities of conspiracy to corrupt, but the charges were later dropped. The Austrian penal code provides prison terms of up to five years for money laundering. Mensdorff-Pouilly is married to former Austrian health minister Maria Rauch-Kallat and his name has come up in several corruption cases in Austria. Prosecutors also charged him with giving false testimony before a parliamentary commission and falsifying evidence. A colleague of the lobbyist was also included in the complaint, suspected of having participating in money transfers.