The most prominent witness in the investigative committee set up by the SPÖ and FPÖ into the Covid financing agency is not coming. Signa founder Rene Benko would have been invited on Thursday; he had promised to come in February. The Tyrolean real estate investor may have changed his mind. “Benko doesn’t dare. Rejection for tomorrow’s U-Committee has just arrived,” wrote the Green parliamentary group leader Nina Tomaselli late on Wednesday followingnoon on X (formerly Twitter).
For the Tyrolean, it would have been the first opportunity to publicly explain himself since the spectacular bankruptcy of his Signa real estate group.
In recent weeks, a large number of statements of facts have been submitted to various law enforcement authorities once morest Benko and various Signa companies. “The (sensational) media reporting with new allegations (almost) every day means that it is completely impossible (at least at the current stage) to get even a rudimentary overview of the allegations made once morest René Benko,” said Benko’s lawyer Rejection in a letter.
“Massive violation of the rights of the accused”
Against this background, it is “actually impossible at this point” for Benko to prepare for the questioning in the U-Committee together with his legal counsel. Because he lacks knowledge of the allegations once morest him, Benko “cannot even begin to estimate the extent to which he has the right to refuse to testify.” An appearance in the committee is “unreasonable” because there is a “massive violation of the accused’s rights”.
Benko is considered one of the key figures for the committee. Finally, the opposition is also concerned with the question of whether major VP donors and “billionaires” have been given preferential treatment by the VP-led government when it comes to granting subsidies. It is assumed that he and other billionaires who are considered to be close to the ÖVP have benefited disproportionately from government aid.
Another celebrity invited
In addition to the Signa founder, another “celebrity” was invited on Thursday. The board director of the Financial Market Authority, Eduard Müller, was section head in the Ministry of Finance from 2015 and is therefore said to have knowledge of the Signa Group’s tax proceedings, including in connection with the Tuchlauben complex in downtown Vienna.
In the “expert government” under Chancellor Brigitte Bierlein, Müller was finance minister. Another official who was involved in the tax audit of Signa Holding has also been invited for Thursday.
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