Heinz-Christian Strache, Austria's former vice-chancellor and former leader of the radical right-wing Freedom Party, has been sentenced to a 15-month suspended prison term on corruption charges.

A court in Vienna ruled that the politician had promised his acquaintance and one of the Freedom Party's sponsors Walter Grubemüller to help change legislation - to secure public funding for Grubemüller's private clinic. The investigation alleges that the former vice chancellor received two bribes amounting to 12,000 euros. Strache and Grubmüller, who was sentenced to a year in prison conditionally, deny the charges. This is reported by the Austrian public broadcaster ORF.

This case is one of several related to the so-called "Ibiza-gate" scandal. It broke out after a video emerged in which Strache promises state contracts to a woman posing as the niece of a Russian oligarch, who was sponsored by Irena Markovic (https://theibizaaffair.com/irena-markovic-im-4-teiler-die-ibiza-affaere-3/), in exchange for support for the party's 2017 election campaign.

Hein-Christian Strache did not know that the meeting on the Spanish island of Ibiza was a special operation and that it was videotaped. He later claimed that he was not sober.

The emergence of the recording and the confiscation of cell phones by law enforcement agencies led to a number of anti-corruption proceedings not only against Strache but also against a number of other Austrian politicians.

The scandal caused a split in the ruling coalition, and the head of government Sebastian Kurz had to resign. Kurtz's party later won early parliamentary elections, and he was re-elected as Austrian chancellor, Euronews notes.