Benko millionaire advisor
Here Alfred Gusenbauer sleeps through Signa meetings
Former Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer, who was in the pay of René Benko's Signa Group from 2009, apparently liked to turn a blind eye to the meetings of the now ailing company.
René Benko's Signa Group has suffered the biggest bankruptcy in Austria's post-war history by billions. Hordes of criminologists, lawyers and auditors are currently trying to shed light on a convoluted group that had made deliberate concealment a principle.
It is becoming increasingly clear to investigators that financial juggler Benko was pulling all the strings until shortly before the collapse. It is still unclear what role the supervisory board, some of which had prominent members, played in key Signa Group companies.
Eyes closed and through?
Did Benko's well-remunerated controllers take their role seriously? Or does the meeting from 2014, which lasted just ten minutes in the posh six-star Chalet N on the Arlberg, symbolize the failure of Signa's internal supervision?
"Krone research suggests that at least one prominent supervisory board member must have turned a blind eye several times. In the truest sense of the word. The close Benko confidant and millionaire advisor Alfred Gusenbauer, of all people, who headed various supervisory boards until spring 2024, apparently did not always take his role at Signa meetings too seriously.
Two photos leaked to the "Krone" clearly show the former chancellor enjoying a short nap. Both pictures were taken in 2019. One shows former Raiffeisen Bank International boss Karl Sevelda on the sidelines. On the other, former casino board member Karl Stoss. In contrast to former head of government Gusenbauer, both Signa Supervisory Board members appear relatively alert.
Flying change to Signa
In December 2008, just two weeks after his departure from the Chancellery, Gusenbauer already had a contract ready to sign with Benko's Signa Holding, which would guarantee him an annual basic salary of roughly the same as the Chancellor's salary (280,000 euros) from February 2009. Excluding bonus payments. For one week's work per month.
Soon afterwards, the now 64-year-old former politician was appointed to head the supervisory boards of Signa Prime and Signa Development, which, like Signa Holding, collapsed under a debt burden running into billions at the end of 2023.
The former SPÖ chancellor made international headlines in the fall of 2023: At the time, it was revealed that he had billed Signa Holding a total of twelve million euros in the years 2020 to 2023 alone for consultancy services in connection with the Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof turmoil.
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