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René Benko in July 2023
Photo: GEORG HOCHMUTH / AFP
The lawyer for the Austrian investor René Benko canceled the questioning of the ex-billionaire by a parliamentary investigative committee planned for Thursday at short notice - because Benko did not have an overview of all the legal allegations.
The 46-year-old entrepreneur cannot answer questions in parliament because he would risk getting into a conflict between the obligation to tell the truth and the right to refuse to testify, according to the lawyer's letter to the Austrian parliament, which is available to the German Press Agency .
Benko and his insolvent Signa Group are constantly confronted with new advertisements. By mid-February, 37 so-called statements of facts against the real estate and trading entrepreneur and Signa companies had already been submitted to public prosecutors in Austria, but the number is now probably much higher, the lawyer writes.
Benko's appearance before the investigative committee was eagerly awaited. The manager, who was once celebrated as a success, has not once publicly commented on the decline of the Signa Group he founded. Since a wave of bankruptcies began to roll through his intricate network of companies last year, he has avoided all public events.
The investigative committee was set up by the opposition to shed light on the alleged favoritism of super-rich people like Benko, who have ties to the conservative ÖVP chancellor party. After Benko's rejection, the questioning of a former high-ranking tax official about tax proceedings by the Signa Group was scheduled for Thursday. Two other finance officials were questioned in Parliament on Wednesday. However, they did not provide any evidence of tax preferential treatment for Signa companies.
According to the highest legal representative of the Republic of Austria, things could get legally tight for Benko: "I would sleep very restlessly," said Wolfgang Peschorn, President of the Financial Procuratorate. There are currently “numerous indications of criminal offenses” surrounding the spectacular decline of the Signa Group. Benko was described by investors as a “de facto managing director”. He was therefore probably the driving force behind the business.
In Germany, the Munich public prosecutor's office has confirmed investigations into suspected money laundering in connection with the Signa Group. Austria's corruption prosecutor's office is investigating, among other things, whether Benko tried to bribe the former Secretary General of the Finance Ministry with a lucrative job offer. Benko's lawyers have denied these allegations.
In times of low interest rates, Benko had built up an opaque company network, which included, among other things, the unfinished Elbtower in Hamburg, as well as the now insolvent department store brands KaDeWe and Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof. With the rise in interest rates, construction costs and energy prices, the Signa Group has largely collapsed.
vet/dpa