René Benko is one of the austria’s most important entrepreneurs. He has long been under investigation by the Austrian Economic and Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, among other things on suspicion of serious fraud and various insolvency offenses. Claims against his holding company Signa amount to more than 7.700 million euros700 million, enough to cause the largest bankruptcy in Austria’s history, according to several media reports.
Last July, he was arrested but already in December the justice of Italy (because the businessman also had business in the Italian Tyrol, on the border with Austria), had issued a European arrest warrant against this 47-year-old businessman. The charges included the formation of a criminal organization, bid rigging, corruption and fraud “in connection with the issuing of invoices for transactions that were not actually carried out”.
Ibiza villa in the spotlight
Despite the massive bankruptcy of his business network, this disgraced real estate juggler René Benko and his wife would have bought and expanded an estate worth more than eight million euros in Ibiza.
Therefore, the media wonder how, taking into account the blocking of their accounts, their arrest and their alleged lack of economic solvency, the marriage formed by René and his wife Nathalie have been able to continue investing in the Ibizan mansion located in Santa Eulària which, according to the Tyrolean press, was called ‘Can March’ and after its acquisition was renamed ‘Can N’.
The Benko bought this property in Ibiza in May 2022when the companies had already announced that they were out of funds, for more than eight million euros. According to confidential documents handled by the Austrian press, most of the money (6.1 million euros) came from Nathalie Benko and a loan from the Laura Private Foundation, considered close to René Benko.
The couple founded a company called NB Ibiza Imm II to buy the villa. NB would mean Nathalie Benko, who in addition to the mansion in discord has another home on the beachfront in Ibiza.
But what the Austrian media are wondering is how, last December, the Benko couple was able to follow paying for a million-dollar refurbishment of the Ibiza villa and carried out by a very famous architect of the island, when they have left a millionaire debt to hundreds of creditors in Austria. For this reason, they are calling on the Austrian government to exercise greater control over the business network of this Tyrolean couple.
At the end of November 2023, the parent company Signa Holding filed for bankruptcy and, at the end of December 2023, the larger companies, Signa Prime and Signa Development, also filed for bankruptcy. What followed was an unprecedented series of bankruptcies: the largest in Austria during the Second Republic, with more than 20 billion euros in liabilities.
In March 2024, Benko also declared bankruptcy as a private entrepreneur, but still continued to pay for the controversial refurbishment of ‘Can N’ in Ibiza.
For the full article, please visit Diario de Ibiza website here.