The former bosses of now bankrupt construction companies SCT and Primorje, Ivan Zidar and Dušan Črnigoj, and former SCT commercial projects manager Ivan Demšar had their sentences reduced by three months, while the appeals of the remaining four defendants and of the prosecution were rejected.

Zidar and Črnigoj had their sentences reduced to 14 months in prison, and Demšar to nine months. All three of them were found guilty of giving bribes in order to secure a contract in the public tender for the construction of a new air traffic control tower at Ljubljana airport. The verdict is now final.

The sentences of the remaining defendants remain the same. Hilda Tovšak, the former boss of the now bankrupt builder Vegard, was given a year and two months, while Tomaž Žibert, an Air Traffic Control authority employee in charge of the selection of contractor, got two years and six months.

Two other defendants were sentenced to ten months by the Ljubljana District Court on 30 March 2012. All seven defendants were also slapped with fines, which remain unchanged.

The Higher Court meanwhile rejected the prosecution's appeal against the acquittal of Ivan Kroflič on charges of complicity in offering bribes for lack of evidence.

The court commuted the sentences due to wrong definitions of crimes by the prosecution in the indictment, but it rejected the defence's claims of unlawfully gathered evidence and procedural flaws.

The Higher Court decision makes the District Court ruling final, but defence counsels suggested in statements for the press that they would seek extraordinary legal remedies.

According to Slovenian law, once a court decision is final the only available redress is an appeal on a point of law with the Supreme Court.

It is unclear when the defendants will start serving prison time. According to the online edition of the freesheet Žurnal24, they will start serving once they are handed the Higher Court verdict, presumably in about a month.

The Higher Court decision was lauded in a joint statement by the interior and justice ministers, Gregor Virant and Senko Pličanič.

"The case is proof that it is possible to get to the bottom of corruption," Virant said, labelling the final verdict "a light at the end of the tunnel" for rule of law.

Pličanič, who has made improving the efficiency of the judidiary a cornerstone of his term, said it was "an example of best practice that shows the judiciary can be efficient."