The indictment comes three years after he stepped down as MEP because of a bribe scandal. He was exposed for corruption after falling into a Sunday Times trap.
The former member of the Social Democrats (SD) was one of the four MEPs exposed in 2011 by the Sunday Times for accepting bribe offers. Thaler was filmed with a hidden camera by Sunday Times journalists posing as lobbyists when accepting EUR 100.000 a year for proposing legislative amendments.
He resigned after the revelations. The charge carries a prison sentence of between one and five years.
Regarding the other three MEPs also exposed in the cash-for-law scandal, Austria’s MEP Ernst Strasser also resigned, while their Romanian in Spanish colleagues, Mr. Severin and Mr. Bidegain, still sit in the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
K.J., Radio Si
