Officially, René Benko has not held any managerial positions in his group of companies since 2013. The real estate juggler likes to explain that he is only part of the advisory board, which consists of prominent figures…
Signa’s companion and ex-chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer knows how detailed and hard-working the Tyrolean is. The myth is often spread that the department store juggler is the last person to write emails at night and the first to reply in the morning. Without him, little would work in Signa’s nested corporate conglomerate. It is not rumored whether Benko also played a leading role in the sale of Kika/Leiner to the Supernova Group or to trading expert Hermann Wieser – which, according to media reports, was quite lucrative for his Signa Group.
What distinguishes real estate from retail
While about 350 million euros could be redeemed for the property, the trading division of the traditional furniture chain is clearly bankrupt. A bankruptcy filing was filed on Monday; 1900 employees lose their jobs. Since the announcement of the insolvency scenario, the fact that much of the restructuring has to be carried out at the expense of the taxpayer has led to widespread public outcry. Because: on the one hand, the state insolvency fund will have to step in for wages and salaries or possible severance payments of employees, on the other hand, the state was clearly the largest lender, because it would Kika/Leiner tax deferrals of at least tens of millions in the time of owner Signal.
The Finanzprokuratur, a sort of taxpayer’s advocate, has already announced that it will look very closely at the Kika/Leiner case.
“Beware of administrative liability!”
The question of tax deferral seems fundamentally interesting in the case of such large insolvencies, as an experienced liquidator of the “Krone” reports: according to paragraph 9 of the Federal Tax Code, there was a “default”, which means that (also former) representatives for the tax debts of a company can be used by means of a Liability Declaration. In an essay by Ernst&Young entitled “Warning directors’ liability!” states, among other things: “The affected group includes in particular the directors of a public limited company (…) for ‘de facto directors’ – that is, people who do not hold a corporate position, but who have influence – there are similar arrangements ( cf. § 9a BAO). This is a personal liability, which means that the representative concerned is liable for the tax debts of the company with all his (private) assets.”
Incidentally, Alfred Gusenbauer holds important supervisory directorships at both Signa and Strabag as president. STRABAG founder Hans Peter Haselsteiner is a major Signa investor. The Raiffeisen banking group, which according to “Spiegel” would have lent the Signa group a total of about two billion euros, is considered Signa’s main lender in Austria. Media holdings such as the “Kurier” also belong to the Raiffeisen empire.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
