VIENNA (Reuters) -Austrian former property billionaire Rene Benko has filed an appeal against his conviction last week for insolvency-related fraud and the two-year prison sentence it incurred, his lawyer said on Monday.
The case stemmed from a sweeping investigation into crimes prosecutors suspect were committed in connection with the collapse beginning in 2023 of Benko’s real estate group Signa, Austria’s biggest bankruptcy since World War Two.
A court in Benko’s hometown of Innsbruck ruled last week that a 300,000 euro ($350,000) transfer to his mother, ostensibly as a gift but made before key parts of Signa filed for insolvency, was an attempt to put the money beyond creditors’ reach.
The court found him not guilty on a second count of insolvency-related fraud.
SIGNA PROBE CONTINUES, AT LEAST ONE MORE CASE PLANNED
“We have just lodged an appeal against the conviction,” Benko’s lawyer Norbert Wess told Reuters.
Monday was the last day in which appeals could be submitted.
A spokesperson for the Central Prosecutors’ Office for Economic Crimes and Corruption (WKStA) said on Friday it planned to appeal against the acquittal on the second count. It did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday as to whether it had.
That charge related to up-front payments of roughly 360,000 euros in rent and other expenses for a house in Innsbruck needing renovation and repairs that prosecutors said made no economic sense.
The court, however, found that a conviction would have been unsafe, because the exact condition of the house at the time the lease was signed was unclear.
The case was the first to come to court resulting from the wide-ranging investigation into Signa’s collapse.
The WKStA estimates the total damage from suspected crimes at around 300 million euros. It has filed one other case against Benko so far, also dealing with hundreds of thousands of euros, a fraction of the amount under investigation.
The investigation is continuing, and Wess said last week he believes prosecutors still plan to bring larger cases against Benko, who has been in custody since his arrest in January.
Signa’s creditors, who include Germany’s Deutsche Bank, insurer Allianz, Swiss bank Julius Baer and Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank International, are, meanwhile, seeking to recoup some 27.6 billion euros.
($1 = 0.8575 euros)
(Reporting by Francois Murphy; Editing by Joe Bavier)
