Against the "Spiegel"

“Being hunted by detectives halfway around the world”

Signa founder Benko: also failed before the Hamburg Higher Regional Court.

(Bild: APA/EXPA/JOHANN GRODER)

Financial juggler René Benko has lost his case against "Der Spiegel" in two court instances. This is the result of a decision - not yet legally binding - by the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court of Hamburg on July 22, which is available to the "Krone".

The German news magazine had reported at the beginning of May that the ruling house of Abu Dhabi felt its honor had been insulted and, as the "highly exclusive backer" of the financially ailing Signa Group, was "currently putting pressure on the Austrian ex-billionaire".

It said: "According to information from Spiegel, the family of Abu Dhabi's ruler Mohamed bin Zayed al Nahyan, who is also President of the United Arab Emirates, is demanding a lot of money back from Benko." Among other things, it is about loans of 713 million euros that the sovereign wealth fund Mubadala, controlled by the ruling family, has put into Benko's opaque Signa construct.

René Benko is no stranger to Abu Dhabi: The picture shows the real estate juggler in 2019 at a show by the Spanish Riding School from Vienna.

(Bild: APA/HELMUT FOHRINGER)

Benko took action against Der Spiegel and wanted to obtain a temporary injunction in court. First in Cologne. Then in Hamburg, where the application was initially rejected by the regional court and now also by the higher regional court. The Higher Regional Court judges considered the reporting to be "not defamatory".

Benko and the bodyguards
In the article, "Der Spiegel" also referred to an "expert on the financiers", whose assessment was that Benko would "now probably need more bodyguards". 

According to information from "Krone", the real estate speculator, who was once given access to the Arab world by former Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, had already hired a large number of bodyguards and security guards long before this "Spiegel" report, who accompanied him at every turn, including on the jet. Several security companies were once hired for this purpose. The financial outlay for this was quite considerable: just under 44,000 euros in June 2023, just under 29,000 euros in July 2023.

Since the collapse of the Signa Group conglomerate and Benko's own bankruptcy, the bodyguards have apparently been financed by one of the private foundations.

If this is the case, the foundation's board members could sooner or later have some explaining to do: René Benko is not one of the beneficiaries of this foundation.