The Austrian ex-billionaire René Benko must remain in custody for at least two more months.
The founder of the insolvent real estate and trading group Signa had applied for his release. But the Vienna Regional Court refused. There was still an urgent suspicion and risk of acting, the court said.
The 47-year-old entrepreneur was arrested in January and was taken into custody in Vienna. The Economic and Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (WKStA) suspects him to infidelize, fraud and bankruptcy.
Suspicion: Investor deception: inside and creditor: inside
The investigators: Among other things, assumes that Benko has led investors to grants by stating that a Benko family foundation would also participate in a signa capital increase. In reality, Benko smeared the money of the investors through a ‘money carousel’ and issued as his own contribution, it said.
According to WKStA, Benko is also said to have hidden assets from authorities, creditors and bankruptcy administrators. Investigations are also underway against the entrepreneur in Germany, Italy and Liechtenstein. His lawyer has so far rejected the allegations against Benko.
Benko had built up a nested company network in the low interest rate phase. For example, he invested in the Galeria Warehouse Group, the Luxury department store KaDeWe and the Hamburg Elbtower project. In addition to internal problems, Signa was brought down from rising interest rates, energy prices and construction costs.