Record procedure – Meinl: Still not resolved after 15 years

15 years ago, the capture of Julius Meinl V made headlines. Pre-trial detention including record bail: 100 million euros. The money flowed. Meinl was imprisoned for 48 hours. In 2024, the procedure has still not been legally completed. The next record.

100,000 investors damaged by 1.7 billion
According to information from “Krone”, the proceedings against Meinl and others will be discontinued. They allegedly used misleading measures to harm 100,000 investors in Meinl-European-Land with a total of 1.7 billion in real estate transactions. A report provided definitive relief in 2022. There was already a final report from SOKO Meinl in 2018. A project report has been with the Ministry of Justice for months. A few days ago, when asked, the Vienna public prosecutor’s office said that they had not yet received any feedback.

“After fifteen years of litigation, the legal system has a problem”
Senior lawyers criticize the long duration of such cases. A former Chief Justice of the “Crown”: “A court must not only have heard the case, but also have given its decision within a reasonable time. If the judiciary cannot do this in fifteen years, it will have a problem.”

Celebrity lawyer Manfred Ainedter also sees it this way. Like the new OGH president Georg Kodek, he criticizes the duration of the procedure. Ainedter is in second place in the rankings. Buwog, Grasser and Co. have been in focus since 2009. Ainedter: “In February 2023, we filed an annulment complaint against the initial judgment. We’re still waiting. This is unbearable.”