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Signa owner René Benko
Photo: Marcel Kusch / dpa
Real estate investor René Benko arrives in the dock with several other powerful Austrian businessmen. They are accused of bribing a politician to secure lucrative building permits in Vienna. In the foreground of the case is the indictment against the former Green Party politician Christoph Chorherr, which was brought by the Vienna Economic and Corruption Public Prosecutor's Office (WKStA). The indictment is before the SPIEGEL. With him, nine entrepreneurs, some of them prominent, are charged, such as Benko, founder of the Signa Group, to whose realm Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof belongs. Abuse of office, corruption and bribery in different forms of participation are then in the room.
Canon, former councilor and planning spokesman for the Wiener Grünen, should answer before the Regional Court for Criminal Matters in Vienna for abuse of official authority and corruption.
According to the indictment, the corruption investigators want to have identified a connection between the donations made by the co-accused entrepreneurs to the school project association "S2Arch", which was previously run by Chorherr, and the 60-year-old's political office at the time.
Benko is accused, for example, of a donation from his Signa group of November 15, 2011 in the amount of 100,000 euros in connection with the Signa project »Central Station Business Center«.
The money went to the "S2Arch" association, which, according to the purpose of the association, was founded to combat poverty and need in developing countries.
Signa rejects allegations
Signa rejects the allegations that they are incorrect and untenable. The company regularly supports projects as part of social engagement. The donation to the school project, which was referred to in the indictment, is "in no way related to an official business." The officials responsible for town planning projects had confirmed to the public prosecutor that the dedication procedure relating to Signa had been carried out correctly. Moreover, it only started in 2013 and was completed in 2015.
Canon also defends himself against the allegations. On the news service »Twitter« he wrote that he would rebut the allegations in the court hearing. He was "exceptionally optimistic" that he could explain to the court that his work as a politician was exclusively "due to the public good and objective criteria of quality-oriented urban planning and was in no way influenced by the interests of donors."
According to their 55-page indictment with attachments, the public prosecutor's office regards it as proven after several years of investigations that the accused donors wanted to insure themselves with the money that they would carry out an "official activity that was balanced with regard to later projects."
In the indictment, the investigators pointed out that Benko had already been convicted once in 2012 for attempting "prohibited intervention".
However, this criminal record has been canceled.
In the indictment, the investigators also show exonerating statements.
The responsible clerks who were interviewed and who were involved in the processing of the projects stated that "everything went properly and, in their opinion, no intervention had taken place."
The prosecution comes at an inopportune time for Benko.
His Signa Group is currently going public with the sports online retailer Signa Sports United (SSU) and is hoping for many investors.
