Former Austrian leader charged with giving false evidence to an inquiry

Former Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz resigned in October 2021 to defuse a political crisis (Kirsty O’Connor/PA)

Austria’s former Chancellor Sebastian Kurz has been charged with making false statements to a parliamentary inquiry into a scandal that brought down his first government, prosecutors said on Friday.

An indictment against Mr Kurz, his former chief of staff, Bernhard Bonelli, and another unidentified person was filed at the state court in Vienna, the prosecutors’ office that investigates corruption cases said in a statement.