René Benko’s once dazzling Signa Group continues to crumble. Creditors of Signa Holding have registered claims worth 8.6 billion euros. However, a large proportion could come away empty-handed. Investigative journalist and ‘signa revealer’ Rainer Fleckl from the ‘Kronen Zeitung’ reports in a krone.tv conversation with Jürgen Winterleitner about a domino of insolvency and a systematic lack of transparency within the ‘nested construction of more than 1000 companies’.
“You first have to get an overview of that. And as insiders think they know, only Benko himself has a real overview.”
With the support of tax consultancy firms, founder René Benko’s Signa Group tried not to publish its balance sheets. This can be seen as deliberate concealment and must now be investigated by the judiciary, Felckl.
“Save what can hardly be saved”
Hans Peter Haselsteiner, the major investor in Signa, has announced that he will invest another 25 million euros in the bankrupt Signa Development Selection AG. This concerns a massive loan provided by a subsidiary of the Haselsteiner Familien-Privatstiftung.
Why does Haselsteiner pour even more money into an already ailing company? Rainer Fleckl said in an interview with krone.tv: “Benko has been trying very hard since the summer to get a capital increase from the existing investors, that is, to get money.” And: “Apparently an attempt is being made to save what can hardly be saved. In view of the billion-dollar problems, I would say that 25 million is a drop in the ocean,” said Fleckl.
Millions in bonuses collected
From the company’s balance sheets, it was already known at the end of 2022 “that there were already billions in losses and that tens of millions more bonuses” had been paid to board members for projects that had not yet been completed, according to Rainer Fleckl.
“A real trail of blood in the trade”
Over the years it has become clear that Signa’s house of cards is starting to collapse. Because some Signa investors claim that the victims of the Signa case are only wealthy investors anyway, this is wrong, according to Fleckl: “It’s not just about the rich. It is not right to say such a thing!”
And the investigative journalist of the “Kronen Zeitung” adds about the bankruptcy of Galeria Karstadt: “We have a real trail of blood in the retail sector of Benko’s Signa Group.” Thousands of workers have lost their jobs. ‘You have to remember that this is a personal fate. All taxpayers pay for it. At Kika-Leiner we also have the special situation that the Republic, i.e. the American taxpayers, were the largest creditors with more than 100 million euros,” says Rainer Fleckl, pointing to the real victims in the Signa case.
You can watch the entire interview with Rainer Fleckl in the video above.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
