The court ruled: – Benko’s mother’s donor rights are limited

The curator filed the lawsuit over the personal assets of Signa founder René Benko. The court’s ruling means that Ingeborg Benko may no longer make changes to the foundation declarations or the two foundation statutes, provided she does so in “coordination with third parties”. The Laura Private Foundation in Innsbruck and the Ingbe Foundation in Vaduz in Liechtenstein are affected, says lawyer Daniel Tamerl from the Innsbruck law firm CHG.

In Laura alone, named after Benko’s daughter, assets worth three-digit millions are said to be parked. The purpose of the foundations should be to care for family members. René Benko himself does not officially appear as a beneficiary, but according to the lawyers he is, through his mother’s detour.

No direct access for administrators
“Our claim is that Benko has authority over his mother. His mother has to do this because of an internal agreement. No written agreement is necessary; it can be done verbally. For us, however, the right to give instructions has been transferred to the curator,” explains founder Dietmar Czernich. The latter has not yet been legally established.

The provisional injunction for the mother takes effect immediately. The founder’s rights do not automatically go to the trustee; he has no direct access. There is first a process that will “probably take three or four years,” according to curator Andreas Grabenweger.