Benko is said to have moved millions in money in the summer of 2023. Ocean captain: ‘As far as I know it’s not the crew’s fault’

Further details have emerged about Tyrolean real estate entrepreneur René Benko and the demise of his largely bankrupt Signa business network. According to Austrian media, Benko is said to have moved millions in money within the Signa conglomerate last summer.

According to joint research by “News” and “Krone” and reported as fresh capital for the holding company to convince the owners to make a capital injection that was urgently needed at that time. These were therefore events before a capital increase of 350 million euros, which Signa ultimately secured.

As ‘Krone’ and ‘News’ write, Benko is said to have withdrawn part of it – 35 million euros – from one of Signa’s many subsidiaries and transferred it to the holding company through various stations. The reason according to the interpretation of the two media: Benko wanted to set a good example to the outside world and create trust among the shareholders of the company, which was already struggling at the time.

In concrete terms, at the end of June 2023, a subsidiary of Signa Holding was initially deprived of the amount of 35 million euros – as a loan for another Benko company. The money was then transferred through various accounts and companies: first to a subsidiary of Benko’s private foundation Laura. From there – also as an alleged loan – to the private foundation of the Benko family, which holds ten percent of the shares in Signa Holding. This is how the money eventually ended up with the holding company – disguised as fresh capital, as the “Krone” writes.

Benko’s lawyer is defending himself against the accusations

“The facts are one-sided, abbreviated and taken out of context, put together,” Benko’s lawyer Norbert Wess responded to the messages in the APA interview. At the time, the entire group of companies was in a “quite complex and comprehensive” restructuring phase, which involved numerous discussions and negotiations with existing shareholders and potential future investors, Wess said.

No one was deceived:

Accusations against Benko were also made this weekend by Karl Gernandt, asset manager of Hamburg logistics billionaire Klaus-Michael Kühne, who lives in Switzerland. According to a report by “Der Spiegel” he saw financiers of the Signa Group “deceived” by Benko.

Benko used its corporate structure at more than 1,000 companies and, among other things, hid debts “in all Luxembourg intermediate holding companies”. He “ultimately acted fraudulently.” Benko’s lawyer Wess rejected this at the APA. (saw/sda/awp/apa)