The former real estate billionaire René Benko remains in custody. This was decided by the Vienna Regional Court.
The court announced that it continued to be suspected of an urgent suspicion and the risk of act.
In two months at the latest, it must be decided again whether the custody will be extended or whether the 48-year-old Austrian founder of the insolvent Signa Group is released.
Investigations expanded
The economic and corruption prosecutor (WKStA) suspects Benko, among other things, the infidelity, fraud and bankruptcy. In the investigations against him, several new investigative lines were added. His lawyer, who had rejected allegations against Benko in the past, did not recently commented on the expansion of the investigation.
According to investors, Benko is said to have cheated on investors and hid assets from authorities, creditors and insolvency administrators. The public prosecutor has recently been investigating whether a million-of-a-signal company was illegal to a family foundation in Benko’s environment. The WKStA has already completed a report on the initial investigation results, which means that the possibility of an indictment has moved closer.
Benko had built up a complex 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.