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VIENNA, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Vienna prosecutors have widened a probe into suspected bribery at the OeBS banknote unit of Austria's central bank to include Governor Ewald Nowotny and other members of the unit's supervisory board, the central bank said.
"The supervisory board of the OeBS strongly rejects the accusations raised against it," the central bank said in a statement on Monday.
It said that board members did not know of the unit bribing foreign officials to get contracts, as it said former OeBS staff had alleged.
The statement did not name the OeBS board members under investigation but a central bank spokesman confirmed they included Nowotny, Vice Governor Wolfgang Duchatczek and Executive Director Peter Zoellner.
Prosecutors widened the OeBS probe "due to the suspicion of knowledge of bribery of foreign officials when acquiring contracts to print banknotes. This suspicion is based on statements from former OeBS staff accused of breach of trust."
The central bank suspended top OeBS management in October after coming across irregularities in a routine internal audit. It cited at the time "indications of illegal business conduct or failure to convey information to the supervisory board".
The OeBS board informed the authorities and suspended top OeBS management as well as a department head at OeBS, it added.
OeBS counts the European Central Bank and national central banks around the world as its clients, according to its website.
A spokesman for Vienna prosecutors said on Monday the focus of the investigation was fees paid to win banknote contracts, including in Syria and Azerbaijan.
Authorities extended the probe to include OeBS supervisory board members "because there are incriminating details and suspicion had widened to include them", he said.
The investigation is in its early stages, he said. Convictions could carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
(Reporting by Michael Shields, Angelika Gruber and Sylvia Westall)
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