Pressure on Benko is growing
Suspicion of money laundering at Signa – public prosecutor’s office investigates
Signa boss Rene Benko
© Hans Klaus Techt/APA/dpa
He renovated attics before he could call entire department stores his own: René Benke’s rise read like a fairy tale. But there is no happy ending in sight. Bad suspicion follows the bankruptcies.
The Munich public prosecutor’s office is investigating suspected money laundering at the Austrian entrepreneur’s insolvent Signa Group René Benko confirms. A spokeswoman for the investigative authority said this on Wednesday upon request, without naming one or more of the accused. However, she pointed out that there is no corporate criminal law in Germany – meaning that investigations cannot be carried out against companies, but only against individual people.
“The facts will of course be examined comprehensively from a legal perspective, including with regard to possible other crimes,” the investigators said in a statement. “Bild am Sonntag” first reported on the process at the weekend.
Signa: Benko assets of $6 billion
Until a few months ago, Benko was considered a multi-billionaire; the US magazine “Forbes” estimated the 46-year-old’s assets at 6 billion dollars (5.5 billion euros) at the beginning of 2023. Since the end of December, however, a number of companies from Benko’s Signa Group have filed for bankruptcy. Benko’s complex corporate empire includes, among others, the Elbtower project in Hamburg, the luxury department store KaDeWe in Berlin and the also insolvent department store chain Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof.
Benko himself has now also filed for bankruptcy in the Tyrolean state capital of Innsbruck. This involves, among other things, a subsidy that Benko had announced for the insolvent holding company of the Signa Group, which has not yet been fully paid.
Money laundering investigations are still in their early stages
The Munich investigations have not yet progressed very far. However, the announcement revealed that other public prosecutor’s offices in Germany are also involved in the case. At the moment it is apparently being clarified where the leadership should lie. “The exact local responsibilities and thus the press sovereignty within Germany still need to be clarified, which is why we have to be cautious about providing information at the moment,” explained the spokeswoman for the Munich public prosecutor’s office.
The Signa Group had expanded significantly during the low interest rate phase of the past few years. However, with the simultaneous increase in loan interest and construction costs, the group was no longer able to service its debts. Benko himself has not spoken publicly about the decline of his empire in recent months.