New trial against ex-billionaire René Benko on suspicion of serious fraud

Ex-billionaire René Benko is back in court in Austria. The hearing in the Innsbruck regional court on Wednesday (8:45 a.m.) will focus, among other things, on suspicion of serious fraud.

According to the indictment, Benko is said to have defrauded the private foundation of the industrialist Hans Peter Haselsteiner of around five million euros by giving the investor a “false guarantee” to repay the sum of millions. Haselsteiner and Benko had close business ties for years.

The 82-year-old Haselsteiner, ex-head of the construction company Strabag, is called as a witness on the first of two planned days of the trial. For the first time, Benko will not come from prison to the courtroom. Since mid-October he has been allowed to serve his pre-trial detention with an ankle bracelet in a private apartment.

Benko founded the real estate group Signa, which he expanded into a top company over the course of around twenty years. The entry into stationary retail at the German department store chains Kaufhof and Karstadt, rising interest rates, lost trust from the banks and management errors ultimately drove Signa into bankruptcy.