Mafia accusation overturned

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Heinz Peter Hager, the Bolzano-based tax consultant and confidant of the fallen Signa founder and real estate juggler René Benko, must remain under house arrest after extensive investigations by the public prosecutor's office in Trento, Italy, came to light.

On Thursday, the Trento Liberty Court confirmed the house arrest for six of the seven accused as part of the comprehensive investigation by the anti-Mafia public prosecutor's office. However, it also came to the conclusion that the aggravating circumstance of mafia-like methods in relation to the alleged criminal organization was not present, Italian media reported.

On the other hand, the court did not change the allegation of criminal association in relation to individual offenses.

Objection lodged against house arrest
Six defendants had appealed against the house arrest. The measure for Hager, a Trentino entrepreneur, two South Tyrolean architects, the former senator and mayor of Dro, Vittorio Fravezzi, and a civil servant from the city of Bolzano remains in place. All those affected were presumed innocent.

The measure of house arrest was only converted into a residence obligation in Bolzano for one South Tyrolean publicist. In the individual assessment of the cases, the judges did not recognize the aggravating circumstance of mafia-like conduct.

The lawyers of some of the accused have already announced that they will appeal to the Court of Cassation in Rome, the third and final instance. From the outset, they had aimed to overturn the mafia accusation, which would have an impact on the sentence in the event of a conviction in criminal proceedings.