4.  The applicant was born in 1962 and lives in London.
5.  From 1997 to 1998, the applicant was the CEO of the Central Wechsel- und Creditbank AG (“CWAG”), a sub-company of the Hungarian national bank (“UNB”).
6.  On 22 December 2000 the Ministry of Finance (Bundesministerium für Finanzen) received anonymous information accusing the applicant of having received untaxed remuneration in the amount of 35,000,000 Austrian Schilling (approximately 2,550,000 euros (EUR))[1] via the Liechtenstein company Tudor AG.
7.  On 15 February 2001 the Investigation Department for Criminal Matters (hereinafter, the “IDCM”) was ordered to conduct investigations.
8.  On 21 September 2001 the IDCM submitted criminal information on suspicion of tax evasion with the Vienna Public Prosecutor’s Office (Staatsanwaltschaft Wien).
9.  On 9 October 2001 the Vienna Regional Criminal Court (Landesgericht für Strafsachen Wien) opened preliminary investigation proceedings against the applicant on the request of the Public Prosecutor’s Office. At the same time the Vienna Regional Criminal Court instructed the Vienna Tax Authority to investigate the case and to submit a final report concerning the amount of taxes evaded. It further issued an order for the applicant’s house to be searched and pursuant to section 412 Code of Criminal Procedure (hereinafter, the “CCP”) the criminal proceedings were interrupted until the submission of the final report.
10.  On 28 November 2001 the applicant’s house was searched and the applicant was informed about the investigations against him for the first time.
11.  On 22 April 2003 the Vienna Local Tax Authority informed the Vienna Regional Criminal Court that they had completed the investigations and had sent their findings to another Vienna Local Tax Authority which would assess the facts and prepare the final report.
12.  On 5 March 2004 the applicant lodged a request for the discontinuation of the criminal proceedings with the Vienna Regional Criminal Court.
13.  On 14 April 2004 the Vienna Regional Criminal Court rejected the applicant’s request as it could not determine the case without having first obtained a final report from the Tax Authority.
14.  On 8 June 2004 the Tax Authority issued a decision, in which it assessed the applicant’s income tax for the years 1997 and 1998 anew.
15.  On 5 July 2004 the applicant lodged an appeal with the Vienna Independent Financial Panel (Unabhängiger Finanzsenat, Außenstelle Wien, hereinafter, the “IFP”).
16.  On 4 December 2007 the applicant’s appeal lodged with the IFP was dismissed as unfounded.
17.  On 7 April 2009 the applicant lodged a further request for the discontinuation of the criminal proceedings against him.
18.  On 27 July 2009 the Vienna Regional Criminal Court dismissed the applicant’s second request for the discontinuation of the criminal proceedings stating that the persecution of the applicant did not seem inadmissible.
19.  On 27 November 2009 that decision was confirmed by the Vienna Court of Appeal. The court noted however that the Tax Authority had still not submitted its final report even though it had concluded the investigations in 2003 and had already issued new tax assessment orders in 2004. It further noted that the measures set by the court and the public prosecutor to accelerate the proceedings were insufficient and amounted to a violation of Article 6 § 1 of the Convention because the administrative proceedings had already ended on 4 December 2007 (when the applicant’s appeal had been dismissed by the IFP). It therefore ordered the public prosecutor to obtain the final report without further delay and thereupon to close the investigative phase as soon as possible.
20.  On 23 June 2010 the Tax Authority submitted the final report, covering three pages.
21.  On 2 August 2010 the public prosecutor issued a bill of indictment against the applicant on the suspicion of tax evasion.
22.  On 15 December 2010 the applicant’s appeal lodged with the Administrative Court was dismissed.
23.  On 21 December 2010 the applicant filed an official liability action against the Republic of Austria, claiming compensation for, inter alia the unreasonable length of the criminal proceedings and the caused loss of earnings. On 30 June 2011 the Vienna Regional Civil Court (Landesgericht für Zivilrechtssachen Wien), upon the applicant’s request, suspended the official liability proceedings pending the outcome of the criminal proceedings.
24.  On 15 April 2011 the Vienna Court of Appeal dismissed the applicant’s objection to the bill of indictment.
25.  On 15 June 2011 the Vienna Regional Criminal Court held an oral hearing and convicted the applicant pursuant to section 33 § 1 of the Tax Offences Act for tax evasion and imposed on him a fine of EUR 150,000.
26.  On 8 March 2012 the Supreme Court quashed the judgment and referred the case back to the Vienna Regional Criminal Court.
27.  On 31 August 2012 the Vienna Regional Criminal Court held a hearing and acquitted the applicant of all charges.
28.  Following the termination of the criminal proceedings, the official liability proceedings were apparently continued and were still pending at the date of the last information available to the Court (22 July 2016).