Munich: Raid on the Signa Group on suspicion of fraud and breach of trust

Austrian prosecutors searched offices in Vienna on Wednesday. René Benko and other managers of his group are accused of using money from Munich real estate deals to plug holes in the crumbling corporate network.

René Benkos Signa Holding has long been behind Galeria, KaDeWe and the Elbtower in Hamburg. Then the dubious company construct collapses - Benko is arrested. Investigators are now searching premises in Austria. Not the only bad news for the former real estate magnate.

On Wednesday there should have been house searches at several locations. The Signa headquarters in Vienna Herrengasse and locations in Tyrol are apparently affected. They are to be "investigations in an international context"

Use for investigators of the domestic justice system: On Wednesday morning, house searches in Vienna's Herrengasse and Innsbruck were again carried out in connection with the bankruptcy of René Benko's Signa-Imperium. The investigation is to be carried out in the "international context", as the "Krone" learned. Specifically, the Munich Public Prosecutor's Office, which is also investigating Benko, is likely to have made a request for mutual assi…

The premises of Signa are being searched. According to the order, which the "press" is available, eight Signa managers are in the target of the investigators.

In connection with the Signa-Pleite, there were house searches at several locations on Wednesday. Insolvency administrator Andrea Fruhstorfer confirmed in a message in the course of a European investigation house searches in several objects of the insolvent Signa group – among them also in the premises of Signa Development Selection AG in Vienna as well as at addresses in Innsbruck [...]