Signa insolvency

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René Benko was considered a close confidant of former Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.

(Bild: APA/Helmut Fohringer)

The trustee in bankruptcy of René Benko's real estate group Signa is now also asking former Chancellor Sebastian Kurz to pay up. Specifically, he wants to reclaim 750,000 euros in the course of a so-called avoidance action.

SK Management GmbH, founded by Kurz in 2022, had helped a Signa subsidiary to raise 100 million dollars from an Arab investor. Of the agreed fee of 2.4 million euros, the aforementioned 750,000 euros were reportedly paid, as confirmed to krone.at in November - just before the insolvency. This is exactly what the insolvency administrator now wants back, reports the "Standard".

Three fee notes submitted to Signa subsidiary
Kurz had submitted a total of three fee notes to a Signa subsidiary via SK Management GmbH on September 11 of the previous year. Two for 750,000 euros each (plus VAT) and one for 916,090 euros. The latter related to a one percent profit share for the 100 million dollar financing (around 91.6 million euros at the time) from Dubai, which flowed into Signa's already tight coffers in the summer of 2023.

However, Kurz has only received one of these three invoiced fees of 750,000 euros. This leaves an outstanding amount of 1.65 million euros, which Kurz can probably write into the wind, as the ex-chancellor's company has not filed any claims in the insolvency proceedings.

Close confidant of Kurz
Benko was considered a close confidant of the Turkish ex-chancellor. During his time in office, the turquoise-blue government helped the real estate juggler with the takeover of the Leiner building in Vienna's Mariahilferstrasse, for example.

In the insolvency administrator's attempt to save what can be saved for the creditors, the focus is on so-called contestable payments prior to the opening of insolvency proceedings, in addition to the liquidation of the properties. The insolvency administrator is demanding such payments back from Signa's business partners and threatening legal action. One prominent target of such a challenge is apparently Kurz-Gesellschaft, which is supposed to repay 750,000.

In the case of Kurz, the restructuring administrator apparently assumes that Kurz knew or should have known of Signa's inability to pay when it paid the invoice. Outside experts would not be surprised by such an assertion: Kurz was, after all, intensively searching for fresh sources of money with Benko in 2023. Especially in the Arab world.