Once again Martin Ho has to deal with the Viennese public prosecutor’s office. He is investigating the well-known restaurateur because of his company’s bankruptcy proceedings. The accusation is that the interests of creditors are being harmed. A spokesman for Ho said he expected the case, like previous cases, to be dismissed.
The reason is the bankruptcy of a company that previously belonged to his Dots group, reports the magazine ‘Dossier’. This was preceded by the notification of the liquidator of Red Snapper Butter GmbH. In the administrator’s statement of facts, the accusation is made on five pages that Red Snapper’s bankruptcy was deliberately brought about.
More than a million euros postponed
Assets were withdrawn from the company, damaging creditors. According to the curator, more than one million euros was transferred to companies in Martin Ho’s sphere of influence before the bankruptcy, reports ‘Dossier’.
Alexander S. Khaelss-Khaelssberg, spokesman for Ho, pointed out that other cases against the Viennese restaurateur had already been dismissed and that would also be the case this time. “We reject all allegations in the statement of facts as unfounded,” Khaelss-Khaelssberg said. He views the accusations as a campaign by the Chamber of Labor in the aftermath of the recently concluded AK elections.
Red Snapper Butter GmbH, then called Chin Chin Gastronomie GmbH, was part of Martin Ho’s Dots empire until November 2022. After the sale, the GmbH went bankrupt in June 2023. The Vienna Commercial Court has appointed lawyer Clemens Richter as administrator. He noted asset transfers and cash transfers from Red Snapper to other HO companies, the report said.
Richter subsequently submitted a statement of facts to the Public Prosecution Service at the end of last year. He had previously tried to shed light on the matter with the help of Dots Group lawyers, but they were uncooperative.
In any case, the Vienna Public Prosecutor’s Office confirmed to the magazine that it had launched an investigation under Article 156 of the Criminal Code. Ho is listed as a defendant.
Is the Chamber of Labor behind the accusations?
In any case, things are going well in Martin Ho’s gastronomic empire, his new restaurant in Dubai will open in October this year and the main restaurant “Dots Vienna” on Vienna’s Mariahilfer Straße will reopen after renovation, according to his spokesperson. There is no irritation within the company; he sees that the Chamber of Labor is behind the accusations.
There has been a media debate about this for some time with the restorer. In March, the AK announced that it had filed suit for 240,000 euros in allegedly unpaid wages and was seeking compensation for data protection violations. According to its own information, the chamber represents 44 employees who would be waiting for their salaries due to changes in the shareholder and director structure of some DOTs companies. The Dots group denied the allegations.
All companies were renamed before bankruptcy
Previously, some companies in the Dots business network had gone bankrupt. At the beginning of this year, Rixi One Personalverwaltung GmbH, which until recently was called DOTS at THE LEO GRAND GmbH, filed for bankruptcy, according to the creditor protector; its debts amounted to 1.2 million euros. Rixi One was the fourth former Ho company to go bankrupt within a few months. All bankruptcies were preceded by a name change.
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
