Bolzano tax advisor Heinz Peter Hager, considered in Italy as the ‘right-hand man’ of Tyrolean businessman René Benko, requested release from house arrest at a preliminary investigation judge in Trent on Thursday. His lawyer protested his innocence.
His lawyer Carlo Bertacchi said after an interrogation that lasted almost two and a half hours that he had “made detailed statements about his position and commented on all the allegations against him.”
Judge is going to take a look now
“My client has maintained his innocence and denied the criminal conduct alleged against him,” Bertacchi added. The lawyer said the request for release from house arrest is now being considered by the judge. The latter reserves the right to provide an answer within the specified technical period.
Also part of a “mafia-like criminal organization”?
Hager is one of a total of eight people who have been under house arrest since last week as a result of extensive investigations that also concern Benko. The Trent Public Prosecution Service suspects Benko of being “the leader of a mafia-like criminal organization” that was founded with the aim of obtaining concessions and permits in order to make unjustified profits, according to the investigation files.
Benko acted at the head of the criminal organization with the help of Bolzano tax advisor Hager and entrepreneur Paolo Signoretti from the city of Rovereto, the Trentino Public Prosecutor’s Office said. Hager is also CEO of the Laura Private Foundation, named after Benko’s daughter.
Source: Krone
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