Ruling: René Benko's prison sentence is final
In a relatively minor dispute within the Signa case, the Supreme Court in Vienna upheld a two-year prison sentence against Benko and remanded an acquittal back to the court of first instance.
The first final conviction has been handed down in the legal proceedings against Austrian businessman René Benko. The Austrian Supreme Court has dismissed the appeal against the first-instance ruling, thereby upholding the two-year prison sentence against the Signa founder. The initial court ruling concerned «Krida,» the Austrian term for creditor fraud through the misappropriation of assets. Benko had gifted 300,000 euros to his mother. Benko’s attorneys had filed an appeal for annulment of the verdict, citing deficiencies in the reasoning and legal errors. Furthermore, the Supreme Court states that «the criteria relevant to the existence of active remorse—a ground for setting aside the sentence—were not met.»
In a rent-related case, however, the Court of Justice partially overturned Benko’s acquittal. This decision concerned Benko’s acquittal on the additional charge that he had reduced his assets in October 2023 and February 2024 to the detriment of his creditors, including through an «advance rent payment,» thereby committing fraudulent bankruptcy. At a time when he was already experiencing liquidity problems, Benko had paid the landlords of a property he occupied in the Hungerburg district of Innsbruck 360,000 euros, as well as utility costs, in advance. The acquittal in the first instance had been based on the finding that there was no intent to harm creditors’ rights. The higher court now deemed this reasoning insufficient and criticized the fact that the findings of the proceedings had not been sufficiently discussed. The court of first instance in Innsbruck will now have to address this issue again.
Signa Holding, the parent company of Benko’s real estate empire, filed for bankruptcy at the end of November 2023. The collapse of the multi-billion-euro company is considered the largest bankruptcy in Austrian economic history. Those affected are found in particular in Germany and Switzerland. Signa’s sphere of influence included, for example, the Swiss department store chain Globus. Numerous other lawsuits are pending or in preparation. It was recently reported that the Trento Public Prosecutor’s Office is filing charges against Benko and others for forming a criminal organization. The case involves a network spanning politics and business that is alleged to have manipulated public tenders in the autonomous region of Trentino-South Tyrol.
