Criminal proceedings initiated against René Benko: The public prosecutor's office is now investigating allegations of corruption against the billionaire and Signa founder.
Vienna – The bad news for René Benko doesn’t stop. After Lichtenstein had already initiated investigations into possible criminal proceedings, the Signa founder is now facing further trouble in his home country following the insolvency of Signa Holding and the associated bankruptcy filing.
New trouble for René Benko: Public prosecutor's office is investigating Signa founder on corruption allegations
As the “Ö1-Mittagsjournal” reports, the economic and corruption public prosecutor’s office (WKStA) is now also investigating company founder René Benko personally in connection with the insolvency of the Signa Group. Benko's lawyer Norbert Wess also confirmed the investigations against the Austrian billionaire. According to Ö1 information, it is about a loan from an Austrian bank for 25 million euros, which Benko is said to have concealed Signa's economic situation when it was extended last summer. That is the accusation.
According to the Austrian news agency
APA
, Wess confirms that there is a case against Benko, but does not comment on the content of the allegations against the Signa founder. He has inspected the files and knows the allegations made therein and rejects them as “completely baseless,” the lawyer continued in the “Ö1-Mittagsjournal”. “We will only comment on the content to the WKStA,” explained Benko’s lawyer.
Further criminal proceedings against René Benko: Investigations against Signa founders are already underway in Lichtenstein
The new criminal proceedings are another chapter in the saga surrounding René Benko. After all, Lichtenstein opened criminal proceedings against the billionaire last week. The principality's public prosecutor's office confirmed this to
Insider Paradeplatz
, without explicitly mentioning Benko's name. “At the request of the public prosecutor, preliminary investigations are being conducted at the Princely Regional Court against a natural person and against unknown perpetrators on suspicion of the crimes of fraudulent Krida and money laundering,” explained the lead public prosecutor, Fran Haun, to the Swiss financial medium. Krida refers to the “fraudulent or grossly negligent causing of insolvency by a debtor”.
This is an “independent domestic procedure,” explains the lead public prosecutor, Fran Haun, to the Swiss financial medium. The authorities in Vienna and Munich began investigations some time ago. The Austrian investigators have formed a special commission - the SoKo Benko - for this purpose.
Criminal proceedings against René Benko: Focus on the foundation of the founder of the insolvent Signa Group?
Already on Wednesday (April 10th) the
Kronen
Zeitung reported on a foundation in René Benko's orbit that
had
emerged during research in Lichtenstein. Her name “Arual” reads backwards like the name of Benko’s daughter Laura. A well-known Swiss banker also appears in the story: Eduardo “Edi” Leemann, the long-time head of the Falcon Bank, where Benko had deposited a huge fortune and which has since gone under.
The
Kronen-Zeitung
speculates about Arual as a “protective wall” for Benko in the event that his other vehicles go bankrupt. Then recourse to the Arual would no longer be possible.
After the insolvencies of the Signa Group: criminal proceedings against René Benko another chapter
It is not an easy task to keep track of René Benko's insolvent corporate empire: at the end of November, Signa Holding was the top group company and filed for bankruptcy, after which the investors filed a criminal complaint. At the end of December, Signa Prime and Signa Development were insolvent, meaning that the two main core companies went bankrupt.
In mid-March, Signa founder René Benko filed for personal insolvency in Innsbruck and went to bankruptcy court, and at the end of March the Benko family private foundation, also based in Tyrol, in which the now worthless Signa shares are parked. It is burdened with an astonishing amount of debt: 1.14 billion euros. And with the new criminal proceedings, René Benko's deep fall will probably not end any time soon.