Cargreen

The District Prosecutor of Trento has issued an arrest warrant for the Austrian magnate René Benkofounder of the Signa group, which made international headlines less than a year ago for a major financial collapse. Other arrests have also been made in Italy, including Bolzano accountant Heinz Peter Hager and Riva del Garda mayor Cristina Santi. They are all under house arrest. René Benko reported to the Police Directorate in Innsbruck at the beginning of the afternoon, where he was interrogated by investigators. The Austrian magnate remains free, writes the newspaper Der Standard.

To research

The investigations coordinated by the DDA of the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Trento, together with the Carabinieri of the Ros and the financial police of the Nucleo di polizia Economico-finanziaria della Finanza of Trento, presuppose the existence of a business group capable of is to influence and control the most important things. public administration initiatives, especially in the real estate speculation sector in Trentino Alto Adige. The investigations involve 77 people, including 11 government administrators, 20 managers and officials of local entities and government companies, members of law enforcement, professionals and entrepreneurs. In addition, numerous legal entities have been reported to have administrative responsibility. De Gip agreed with the accusation of using the mafia method for the crime of criminal association, as alleged by the prosecutor. The charges include: criminal association, manipulation of procurement procedures, illegal financing of political parties, trading in illegal influence, fraud, unlawful receipt of money from the state, as well as various crimes against public administration, including corruption, undue inducement, disclosure of state secrets. , and omission of official acts, as well as violations of tax regulations regarding the issuance of invoices for non-existent operations. The military carried out more than 100 searches against other investigated individuals, companies and territorial public bodies in the provinces of Trento, Bolzano, Brescia, Milan, Pavia, Rome and Verona, as well as abroad through international judicial cooperation channels. The entrepreneurs involved allegedly made themselves available to finance the election campaigns of government officials and subsequently obtained concessions, simplified procedures and permits for real estate initiatives.

Arrest request

The Public Prosecutor’s Office of Trento has requested house arrest for nine people in the investigation that presupposes the existence of some kind of business group capable of influencing and controlling the main initiatives of public administration, especially in the real estate speculation sector in Trentino Alto Adige. In addition to René Benko and Bolzano accountant Heinz Peter Hager, the 9 for whom the precautionary measure has been requested include Rovereto entrepreneur Paolo Signoretti, former mayor of Dro and senator Vittorio Fravezzi, the mayor of Riva del Garda, Cristina Santi, architects Fabio Rossa and Andrea Saccani, journalist Lorenzo Barzon, and the director of the land management office of the municipality of Bolzano, Daniela Eisenstecken. The investigation, which began in 2019, started after unauthorized access to the computer system of a municipal employee in Bolzano. According to investigators, the entrepreneurs involved allegedly granted favors, gifts and money to officials and civil servants in exchange for contracts.

Searches

As part of the investigation by the Trento Public Prosecutor’s Office, several searches are currently taking place in Bolzano, not only in the town hall. The financial police are in the office of the famous accountant Heinz Peter Hager, while the Carabinieri are in the office of Signa Holding, the former company of the Austrian magnate René Benko, which is building the Waltherpark mega shopping center in the city center. . The operations mainly involve computers, telephones and other electronic devices.

Who is He

“Buying undervalued properties in prime locations with borrowed money, demolishing them and rebuilding them, and ultimately renting them out or selling them at high prices. Wherever he steps, he promises, everything will be bigger, more luxurious, more unique – and ultimately more profitable than elsewhere,” wrote the German weekly Der Spiegel, recalling the names of the group’s main financiers. Among them was logistics billionaire Klaus. -Michael Kühne, the car dynasty of Robert Peugeot, and the road construction king Strabag Hans Peter Haselsteiner, born in Bolzano by adoption.

How he started making money

Bolzano, as reported by ilquotidiano.it represents Signa’s gateway to Italy, Benko’s great friend and former Prime Minister Sebastian Kurz. The entrepreneur was born in Innsbruck in 1977. Here he started making money by transforming attics into luxury penthouses. He then continued with the demolition and rebuilding of the Tyrolean shopping center in the central Maria-Thérèsien-Straße. More than ten years ago he set his sights on the capital Alto Adige with the “Kaufhaus Bozen” project, later renamed Walther Park.

Walther Park

Waltherpark is a shopping center in the station park, in the middle of the historic center. Signa is also active on other fronts in Bolzano: next to the shopping center it has built a luxury residential area and owns a share in the airport. The ‘redevelopment’ of Virgolo Hill has also been focused on for years, with the idea of ​​moving the Ötzi Museum there.

Economic difficulties

In 2014, René Benko bought the important German department store chain Karstadt, which was in serious financial difficulties. Shortly afterwards, the merger with Galerie Kaufhof was completed in 2019 – the same year as the purchase of the Chrysler Building in New York. Thus was born Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof, the largest department store chain in Germany, from which dozens of real estate operations in historic centers emerge: “Benko is considered a creative negotiator,” Spiegel wrote about the pressure exerted on municipal authorities, “taking advantage of the difficulties of mayors, with empty pockets, empty city centers and municipalities without ideas.” However, the Karstadt-Kaufhof operation, together with the post-pandemic crisis, brings numerous financial problems for Signa. Problems followed in quick succession: first, the ECB severed the creditor banks, then Deutsche Bank (according to the Financial Times) severed relations with the group, and finally the declaration of bankruptcy of Signa Sports United, the insolvency of the German branch of Signa Prime Selection and the request of fellow shareholders for Benko to step aside,” concludes quotidiano.it.