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Austrian real estate magnate René Benko has been arrested as Viennese prosecutors accused him of making false statements during the insolvency proceedings of his Signa property in an attempt to embezzle assets.
Law enforcement authorities said Benko was arrested Thursday because he was considered a flight risk and prosecutors feared he might tamper with evidence. They also accused him of forging a document.
In an unrelated investigation, Italian police issued an arrest warrant for Benko in December over alleged irregularities with his business in the South Tyrol region. Viennese prosecutors announced Thursday that they have formed a joint investigation team with prosecutors in Berlin and Munich to speed up cross-border investigations.
Benko’s arrest comes more than a year after his Signa conglomerate collapsed, leaving insurance companies, banks and other investors in Austria and Germany facing billions of euros in losses.
Prosecutors allege that Benko has been the beneficial owner of an Innsbruck-based family foundation named after his daughter Laura. The Financial Times reported last year that a company from the Signa Group transferred more than €300 million to two entities controlled by that foundation before its bankruptcy.
Austrian prosecutors allege Benko failed to disclose his control of the entity, called Laura Foundation, during his personal insolvency proceedings.
“By doing so, he concealed assets and excluded the wealth held in the foundation from law enforcement authorities, the trustee and creditors,” prosecutors said. a statementpointing to evidence collected in a multi-month investigation, including telephone surveillance.
Benko is also accused of fabricating evidence by retroactively submitting an invoice to keep three valuable weapons out of the reach of authorities, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors also allege that Benko tricked Signa shareholders into participating in a capital increase by pretending that his family foundation would also bring in new funds. different legal entities.
Benko is also accused of selling Villa Eden Gardone, a luxurious mansion on Italy’s Lake Garda, to a Liechtenstein-based foundation in a bogus transaction that prosecutors are treating as possible embezzlement.
He is also said to have duped a foreign state investment fund, which he persuaded to invest in a real estate project next to Munich’s main station. Most of the money was then used illegally for other purposes, prosecutors added.
A lawyer for Benko did not immediately respond to an FT request for comment.