Investigations tentative

Signa: Do public prosecutors have sufficient resources?

Financial juggler Benko: built up a convoluted corporate conglomerate

(Bild: HERBERT NEUBAUER Christof Birbaumer Krone KREATIV,)

The biggest bankruptcy in Austrian economic history should also mobilize a large number of forces in the Austrian justice system in order to minimize the damage for creditors and taxpayers. And: to uncover possible criminal offenses before bankruptcy proceedings are opened. One would think so. 

However, it seems that the investigations into the Signa complex surrounding René Benko and Co. are progressing rather slowly. And this is apparently not only due to the corporate jungle, which Benko and his advisors have deliberately made opaque over many years.

At the end of November, Signa Holding, the parent company of the Benko empire, slipped into bankruptcy. Signa Prime and Signa Development, the two most important core companies, followed at the end of December. Despite a large number of serious allegations made by numerous injured parties, it took until March 4 for the special unit Soko Signa to be given the go-ahead by the Public Prosecutor's Office for Economic Affairs and Corruption (WKStA).

Amount of damage: 17 billion euros
It was only on March 22 that the WKStA officially announced that it had formed an investigation team consisting of several people - a team leader as well as senior public prosecutors and internal economic experts. This team is to investigate the numerous Signa bankruptcies with an almost unbelievable loss amount of more than 17 billion euros under criminal law.

The Commerzialbank complex of proceedings
A closer look reveals that WKStA group leader Wolfgang Handler and his senior public prosecutor Patricia Kaindl are not only dealing with the Benko affair, but are also involved in investigating the scandal surrounding Commerzialbank Mattersburg.

Financial juggler Benko: built up a convoluted corporate conglomerate

(Bild: HERBERT NEUBAUER Christof Birbaumer Krone KREATIV,)

Ex-Commerzialbank boss Martin Pucher: Built a castle in the air in Burgenland

(Bild: DIENER / Philipp Schalber)

The Burgenland financial institution was closed by the authorities in the summer of 2020 after serious malversations came to light. The WKStA is now assuming "losses amounting to 600 million euros". It was not until January 2024 that another indictment was issued on one aspect of the case. However, the investigators in the Burgenland bank crash must continue to intensively investigate 35 defendants, including nine associations, for serious commercial fraud, embezzlement, fraudulent crida, balance sheet falsification and money laundering, among other things. 

Do the senior public prosecutors at the WKStA involved in the Commerzialbank case have sufficient resources to fight their way through Benko's Signa thicket?

"The public prosecutor's office is the final stage"
 René Rupprecht, spokesman for the WKStA, says: "Yes." A team has been formed and is well positioned together with Soko Signa. There is no senior public prosecutor who only has to conduct a single case. He also refers to the legal system: "The public prosecutor's office is the last stage. We only deal with the most serious violations, the criminal allegations. The entire Signa complex must be dealt with by the governing bodies and the insolvency administrators."

The explosive aspect of the Signa Group case is, of course, that close Benko confidants such as Marcus "Unterschriften-August" Mühlberger and CFO Manuel Pirolt continue to hold board positions at key Signa companies. And it is precisely their legal actions in the run-up to the bankruptcy tsunami that are at issue. These activities must be legally investigated. 

A side note: Benko's lawyer Norbert Wess is meeting up with old acquaintances in the Signa case. He provided WKStA group leader Handler with the confession of Commerzialbank boss Martin Pucher in summer 2020.