Request rejected

Benko’s right-hand man must remain under house arrest

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Signa Italia//ZVG)

The South Tyrolean tax consultant and confidant of Signa bankrupt René Benko, Heinz Peter Hager, must remain under house arrest. An application to lift the arrest was rejected.

According to the public prosecutor's office in Trento, an extensive investigation is underway and there is suspicion of a "mafia-like criminal organization",

External contacts allowed
However, both Hager and a Bolzano civil servant were allowed by the investigating judge in Trento to have external contacts or contacts with people other than their lawyers, reported the daily newspaper "Corriere del Trentino".

The situation is different in the case of the civil servant. She had also applied to be allowed to return to work - in another department of the municipality. However, the court followed the recommendation of the public prosecutor's office, which had argued against this.

House arrest only lifted in one case
As a result, house arrest was only lifted or replaced by compulsory residence for one of a total of eight people suspected of being members of a criminal organization - the mayor of the Trentino municipality of Riva del Garda, Cristina Santi.

The ball is now in the court of freedom in Trentino, where those affected can challenge the security measure of house arrest. The hearings are scheduled to take place until December 20.

Benko under mafia suspicion
Hager is one of a group of people who have been under house arrest since last week in the wake of extensive investigations, which also concern Benko. The public prosecutor's office in Trento suspects Benko of being the "leader of a mafia-like criminal organization" that was founded with the aim of obtaining concessions and permits in order to make unjustified profits, according to the investigation files.

Rene Benko could be the "leader of a mafia-like criminal organization", says the public prosecutor's office in Trento.

(Bild: APA/EXPA/JOHANN GRODER)

According to the judicial authorities, Benko acted at the head of the criminal organization with the help of the Bolzano tax consultant Hager and an entrepreneur from the town of Rovereto. Hager is also chairman of the board of the Laura Private Foundation named after Benko's daughter.