“Incitement by the media”: why should there be no reason to arrest the financial juggler, according to a contribution to the Public Prosecution Service for Economic and Corruption (WKStA).
On December 5, 2023, there was sudden panic on the Signa Titanic. Captain René Benko, who financed luxury goods from airplanes to yachts and wine cellars at the expense of his bankrupt Signa Holding GmbH, discovered an article in the online medium zackzack.at. The title: “Should Benko go to prison?” The first sentence: “No one can claim that René Benko is a common criminal.”
What happens next is also unusual. Benko instructs his new criminal lawyers to file a “declaration” on his behalf with the Economic and Corruption Public Prosecution Service (WKStA). Right from the start it speaks of ‘more than misleading’ reporting in the media landscape. About a ‘media agitation’. From a ‘negative climax’ on December 5, 2023, when zackzack.at editor and ex-politician Peter Pilz asked his prison question.
Empty nerve
The “Krone” has made this explosive statement to the WKStA. The three-page document shows how nervous the real estate speculator is. The 46-year-old Tyrolean is responsible for the largest bankruptcy in Austrian economic history with his opaque Signa Holding.
Regarding the alleged “media agitation” it states in bold: “These incidents are clearly reminiscent of the media ‘calls’ in July 2020 by LH Hans Peter Doskozil, when he demanded pre-trial detention for Martin Pucher in the Commerzialbank case .” This major case In the Burgenland accounting fraud case, the WKStA, according to Benko’s statement, “did not respond to the calls at the time – as the rule of law requires.”
“Permanent residence in Germany”
It then uses “the current media coverage as an opportunity” to explain why, from Benko’s point of view, there is no reason for an arrest or pre-trial detention in his case:
“The assumption that René Benko will flee or go into hiding is absurd given his efforts to protect the Signa Group, which literally run around the clock, given the orderly living conditions and permanent residence in Germany,” the lawyer wrote. Benko also has duties of care.
“Numerous independent, external advisors”
Furthermore, it should not be assumed that “René Benko will try to influence witnesses, experts or possible co-suspects, remove traces of (possible) crime(s) or otherwise try to make establishing the truth more difficult.”
For the following reason: “Signa has hired numerous independent, external consultants who are intensively investigating all areas of business,” says Benko’s statement to economics and corruption prosecutors. The explosive document not only refers to Investment Rothschild & Co and the law firm White & Case, but especially to the “renowned restructuring expert Dr. Erhard Grossnigg”, who was appointed to the board of directors of Signa Prime and Signa Development AG in early December. “The behavior shown so far is at odds with the assumption of a cover-up.” And: Signa Holding’s external restructuring manager, lawyer Christof Stapf, is also ‘proof of this’.
These are certainly exciting claims. But can they withstand scrutiny?
“De facto director”
The fact is that there are Benko confidantes on the management of both Signa Holding and its two most important subsidiaries, Signa Prime and Signa Development. It is also a fact that Signa founder René Benko was ‘de facto managing director’ of the completely opaque Signa Group, according to his co-investor Hans Peter Haselsteiner. And the fact is that the curator of Signa Holding, lawyer Stapf, does not receive enough information from the management of Signa Prime and Signa Development, which are also insolvent, according to a broadcast on January 29. According to Benko, the ‘renowned restructuring expert’ and Haselsteiner friend Erhard Grossnigg has been chairman of the board since December 1.
It is downright bizarre that a jointly commissioned legal opinion is now intended to clarify what information obligations exist between the holding company, the main company and the development company.
But who wants to argue that Benkos Signa, which is over-indebted in the billions, is an ordinary corporate group?
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.
