Doubts about integrity – René Benko: German politics are increasing pressure

The week of revelation is followed by the first week of truth. At least for René Benko, who was accused so massively by the former highest official of the Ministry of Finance at the corruption prosecutor’s office that criminals combed the offices of his Signa Holding last Tuesday. The core charge is possible bribery in connection with a multiple sale of real estate to Signa companies, which could have yielded an untaxed profit of 53 million euros. There could also have been tax breaks for the excessive use of the pretentious-looking private jet Benko Global 7000, list price: 70 million.

Galeria: 662 million loss in fiscal year 2021
Meanwhile, the department store juggler in Germany is coming under increasing pressure. The main reason is the publicly known attempt to obtain state aid for the third time within two years for Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof (GKK). To date, some $680 million in taxpayers’ money had flowed into the ailing department store division through the Economic Stabilization Fund; According to “Business Insider”, the company, which is expected to lose 662 million euros in 2021, now wants an additional 238 million euros from the public sector to avert an impending bankruptcy. In any case, intensive negotiations are likely to take place in Germany until the end of October.

Tax money for a wealthy Austrian?
Should a wealthy Austrian, who has been known as a billionaire for years, receive financial injections totaling almost a billion? This question, of course, makes people excited: last week the Minister of Economy of North Rhine-Westphalia asked the Tyrolean to contribute capital to the rescue – Galeria must not become a “bottomless pit”. How precarious the situation appears to be is also apparent from a report by the German “Immobilien Zeitung” on October 19; it read: “Some of the Galeria department store landlords had not received rent for October at the end of last week.”

It is unclear whether an agreement has since been reached about possible further public support for Benko’s Galeria. Although there are rumors that one could have been canceled in the short term due to the events in Austria.

“Should the state actually leave its best construction sites (…) to Benko?”
Benko’s campaign for fresh taxpayers’ money is critically questioned by the largest German newspaper, after all, there is “almost a quarter of a billion” in the room: “The case is therefore also spicy for the federal government”, the “Spiegel” noted in its current affairs song: “Do you want a man suspected of bribery even more public money for a rather outdated business model? And: Should the state actually leave its best construction sites and tourist highlights – and thus its urban planning future – to Benko?”

‘Doubts about Elbtower investor Benko’
In a small box on the first page of the current coverage, the “Spiegel” lists Benko’s previous contacts with the judiciary under the title “Aktenständig”: from one year’s “suspended sentence in tax proceedings” (2014) to the bribery charge by the prosecutor in the Chorherr affair (2021) until the search of the Signa offices in the autumn of 2022. According to the renowned publication headquartered in Hamburg, “doubts about Benko’s plans” are now being expressed, especially in the Hanseatic city . And apparently also on its integrity.

The magazine quotes SPD MP Markus Schreiber, whose party rules in Hamburg: Hamburg “doesn’t have to do business with everyone” and that applies “especially to Mr Benko”. According to “Spiegel”, the Austrian investigators’ accusations would at least confirm “doubts about Elbtower investor Benko” for Hamburg CDU budget politician Thilo Kleibauer. And according to the magazine, the chairman of the budget committee on citizenship, Mathias Petersen (SPD), finds it “unfortunate to have signed contracts with such a person.”

It is therefore not surprising that the “Mirror” comes to the conclusion: “People on the Elbe usually talk differently about a respectable businessman.”