The case surrounding Austria’s most famous bankrupt is quickly coming to an end: Andreas Grabenweger, René Benko’s curator at the law firm CHG from Innsbruck, is now taking legal action against Ingeborg Benko, who has founded several foundations together with the bankrupt real estate entrepreneur. The backgrounds.
As reported last week by “Krone” and “News”, the venue for the legal dispute is the Innsbruck Regional Court. Curator Andreas Grabenweger, with the support of his partners, has filed an extensive lawsuit by CHG. Now the plaintiffs are commenting on this for the first time.
“Confidence in the rule of law is at stake”
Dietmar Czernich finds Benko’s approach questionable: “Confidence in the rule of law is at stake. Hiding assets by setting up private foundations and at the same time having high debts cannot be reconciled.”
Was the mother simply pushed forward?
The hunters of the currently lost Benko treasure have a concrete suspicion that the 47-year-old Tyrolean, who has officially lived on 3,700 euros per month since the bankruptcy, could have transferred assets to his foundations in Austria and Liechtenstein. Benko’s 74-year-old mother Ingeborg appears to be co-founder and – unlike her son – beneficiary of both the Laura Private Foundation in Innsbruck and the INGBE Foundation in Vaduz. Ingeborg Benko, a retired kindergarten teacher, is classified as a straw woman for her son René.
As such, she has now become the target of Innsbruck lawyers, as Daniel Tamerl, an expert in corporate law, explains: “The lawsuit is against René Benko’s mother. We want to prove in the procedure that this, as the first donor, was only an apparent act.” The legal experts cannot understand how the mother, as founder, could have been in a position to have access to such amounts and be able to transfer them.
Possible concealment of assets
The lawsuit, which also includes a request for a preliminary injunction, aims to prevent Ingeborg Benko from continuing to exercise her rights as a founder. Benko’s curator wants to crack the foundations on behalf of the many creditors and gain access to the assets. Andreas Grabenweger explains: “The proceedings will demonstrate to what extent the legal institution of the private foundation can be used to hide assets in the future.”
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.
