Explosive emails

Gusenbauer intervened on Benko’s behalf with the head of the FMA

Benko's long-time advisor: former Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer

(Bild: APA/Roland Schlager/Hans Klaus Techt, stock.adobe.com)

Bank audit case: René Benko also sent the CVs of two leading bank auditors to Alfred Gusenbauer. The former chancellor and former SPÖ leader wrote a letter to the SPÖ-affiliated board of the Financial Market Authority in September 2023.

After Labor Day, there was a flurry of activity at the Austrian National Bank. Research by "Krone" and "News" had revealed that Signa founder René Benko apparently wanted to use his confidant Sebastian Kurz for possible interventions in the bank audit in July 2023.

At the time, the house and court banks of the deliberately opaque Signa Group in Germany and Austria were the focus of auditors from the European Central Bank and the National Bank. On a Sunday in July, Benko had sent Sebastian Kurz the CVs of two leading bank auditors, who had apparently been investigated by a consultancy firm. Austria's former chancellor, who had replied to the Benko email with the CVs with a curt "thank you", does not, however, want to have developed "any activities" on this highly sensitive topic, according to a spokesperson. The Austrian National Bank has announced that it will investigate the matter in detail.

"Request for a recall"
 However, another millionaire advisor to the Signa Group did take action: Alfred Gusenbauer, former chancellor and long-standing chairman of the supervisory board of the insolvent Signa Prime and Signa Development. The former SPÖ chairman, who was in the pay of real estate speculator Benko from 2009, was also supposed to receive the CVs of the two strict bank auditors - like Sebastian Kurz - on the aforementioned Sunday, July 23, 2023, 1.32 pm. From Benko himself. In the email to Gusenbauer, which is available to "Krone" and "News", the now bankrupt Benko formulates:

"Please call me back." 

Just two days later, on July 25, 2023, Benko wrote an email to himself, apparently intended as a reminder: "Approach ECB via Ettl."

Benko to Benko: email from July 25, 2023

(Bild: zVg)

Helmut Ettl is one of the two board members of the Financial Market Authority (FMA). Ettl is considered an SPÖ man, he was active in the Socialist Youth early on. Above all, however, Helmut Ettl is present in powerful bodies as a member of the FMA Executive Board: Member of the Board of Supervisors of the European Banking Authority (EBA). Member of the European Systemic Risk Board. And: Member of the Supervisory Board of the European Central Bank's (ECB) Banking Supervision (SSM) since 2014.

The letter to "dear Heli"
 The fact that Benko, with Gusenbauer's help, brought the issue of the ECB to the attention of FMA Executive Board member Helmut Ettl in order to intervene in the ECB audits regarding the valuation of the Signa properties is revealed in a letter obtained by Krone.

On September 18, 2023, Comrade Gusenbauer turns to "Dear Heli!". Under the subject line "Signa-EZB", he gets straight to the point:

FMA board member Helmut Ettl

(Bild: APA/HELMUT FOHRINGER)

"As last mentioned at our meeting in August, an ECB onside inspection team carried out checks at Austrian and German banks on real estate loans granted for Signa projects. For Signa, this fact that an individual customer is being audited is irritating because it confronts the banks with a need for value adjustments that does not correspond to current market conditions." At least according to Alfred Gusenbauer, Signa's consultant at the time, who argued, among other things, that Signa had "successfully transacted properties worth several hundred million euros in Germany and Austria in 2023". And: The purchase prices achieved would show "a significantly different picture" than the results of the ECB's onside inspections.

"Concerning Signa-ECB": Gusenbauer's letter to the head of the Financial Market Authority

(Bild: zVg)

"Exceptional real estate locations ..."
 Gusenbauer then lists "three examples of sales in recent months" and points out to Ettl that "the ECB's onside inspections do not reflect the current market situation. The central, inner-city locations of a large part of the Signa portfolio show that even in a difficult market environment, as is undoubtedly the case at present, such exceptional real estate locations in German and Austrian cities are in demand and the real estate values are highly stable." In conclusion, Gusenbauer notes: "We therefore do not understand the aim of the ECB's approach and we ask for your support in clarifying the situation and are available at any time for discussions - also with representatives of the ECB."

Signed: "Your Alfred Gusenbauer."

Benko's long-time advisor: former Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer

(Bild: APA/Roland Schlager/Hans Klaus Techt, stock.adobe.com)

The end is known. At the end of November - just a few weeks after Gusenbauer's intervention - Signa Holding collapsed, and Signa Prime and Signa Development also went bankrupt at the end of December. In the insolvency documents drawn up by Signa, the values of the "exceptional real estate locations" had to be massively devalued. The Signa portfolios that Gusenbauer had praised to Ettl shortly beforehand were actually devalued by billions a few weeks later.

In any case, it seems that it is not only the Austrian National Bank that needs to examine the events during the Signa audit. The Financial Market Authority and the European Central Bank may also have an issue.