"I cannot understand why the chats go unheeded. Why statements that can be interpreted in different ways are interpreted only to my detriment," Kurz told a judge during his testimony.
Kurz is accused of making false statements in June 2020, when he was still serving as chancellor and denied during a parliamentary inquiry his involvement in the decision to appoint his confidant Thomas Schmid to the board of directors of the Austrian state holding company OBAG, responsible for managing investments.
While investigating Kurz's case, prosecutors examined his correspondence. The case includes a fragment of a message in which the former chancellor told Schmid that he would "get everything" he wanted, to which the confidant replied, "I love my chancellor."
Kurz could face three years in prison. He served as the country's chancellor from 2017-2019 and 2020-2021.