Appeal court cuts sentence for officer who diverted fines

Vienna’s Higher Regional Court has reduced the sentence for a former police officer accused of diverting part of the fines he collected, ORF reported on Wednesday. He will now serve 24 months, with 16 months suspended, instead of the two-and-a-half years of unconditional imprisonment imposed by the Wiener Neustadt Regional Court.

A prison sentence of more than one year automatically results in the loss of public office. The man had filed an appeal and a plea challenging the conviction.

Prosecutors alleged that, between August 2020 and April 2023, he manipulated duplicate copies of administrative penalty tickets while collecting fines in the Wiener Neustadt district. The tickets included penalties for speeding violations, and he was accused of putting thousands of euros into his own pocket.

The investigation began in June 2023 after a colleague provided information. At the start of his trial in April 2025, the then 56-year-old admitted partial responsibility. He acknowledged mistakes in handling the ticket books but denied taking any money.

Although prosecutors identified almost 500 suspected offences, they brought charges in only about one-third of the cases to avoid prolonging the investigation. The court ultimately convicted him in connection with about 400 penalty tickets and ordered 11,745 euros to be forfeited.