In the E059 negotiation room of the Constitutional Court for Criminal Affairs Vienna, scenes took place at the end of June: René Benko, once a beautiful financial juggler, today a prisoner and billion dollars, fought for his release to court. The “Kroon” knows the protocol.
In the almost an hour of detention on 26 June, René Benko personally explained why he regards further custody as disproportionate. It became particularly emotional when it comes to the so -called limited possibilities of his defense. “My defense option is becoming increasingly unreasonable and worse,” complained the Signa founder and referred to the flow of files of more than 15,000 pages and more than 30 witnesses.
“Tons of reports”
His most important tool – an iPad with the research files – was regularly outdated, criticized Benko: “On Monday I got my iPad back, which is in the stands two weeks ago.” In a mixture of anger and despair, he spoke about “Tons of Soko reports that are nothing more than constant repetitions”.
“Fanatic is only looking for a stressful one”
What Benko apparently added the most: according to him, the relieving material was deliberately ignored. “I feel that alleviating the millions of finds are not accepted. Fanatic finds are sought by individual finds,” he said, and the research authorities criticized sharply. As an example, he quoted the last statement of a witness, who, according to him, was clearly illuminated, but is not mentioned in the official report.
Benko repeatedly returned to the defense. Or: to his inability to effectively defend himself. “I can’t defend myself with a historic iPad. To defend myself, I have to be able to express myself better with e -mails and other documents,” he said with audible problems in the voice.
“No murder”
In an almost begging appeal to the judge, Benko finally reminded himself of his family situation: “I have three small children, I would like to deal with the allegations for the coming months.”
He emphasized: “I am accused of economic offenses, no murder, rape, fear, whatever. It is more than five months. You can be sure that I would not think of a secondary repetition or inspection, no escape.”
No freedom for Benko
Despite the emotional entries, the court remained hard. The judge announced the decision: pre -detention is extended until 26 August 2025. This was again justified with the risk of the crime inspection.
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.
