René Benko faces major raid over alleged fraud

The public prosecutor’s office in Austria has been conducting an investigation of fallen real estate mogul René Benko for several months. Recently, his villa and offices were searched to determine the extent of the accusations against him. It was reported that police patrols, officers from a special task force, and minibuses arrived at Benko’s Innsbruck villa on Tuesday morning. A drone was utilized to survey the property during the search, according to media sources. The purpose of the search was to secure any potential evidence, as confirmed by Benko’s lawyer to the magazine “Profil”. It was noted that the officers acted professionally during the search and Benko was cooperative.

The investigations against Benko were initiated by Austria’s Economic and Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (WKStA) in the spring. He and another top manager of the insolvent group are accused of fraud in relation to an extension of a 25 million euro bank loan last summer, among other charges. The accusations include allegations of concealing Signa’s financial situation, leading to the search of multiple locations including the Benko family’s residences, offices in Innsbruck and Vienna, and former senior employees of the group.

Significant amounts of data were collected during the searches, including documents, cell phones, tablets, and USB sticks. The public prosecutor’s office did not provide any comments on the ongoing investigation. Reports suggest that in addition to the loan fraud accusation, there are suspicions that investor funds were not utilized as promised for various projects within the Signa group. There are already two pending proceedings before the WKStA that are not directly linked to the group’s insolvency.

One of the proceedings involves individuals associated with a Signa company filing a voluntary disclosure for failing to pay capital gains tax on a dividend distribution. The other proceeding involves investigations into former Ministry of Finance official Thomas Schmid, who testified that Benko offered him a lucrative management position at Signa in exchange for tax relief in the Ministry of Finance. These multiple ongoing investigations have prompted questions about the timing of the recent raids and the potential impact of any evidence that may have been destroyed in the intervening months.