VIENNA — The founder of fallen Austrian property group Signa, Rene Benko, has been arrested in his villa in Innsbruck, newspaper Kronen Zeitung reported on Thursday (Jan 23).
Local police referred questions about Benko to Austria's anti-corruption prosecutors' office, which was not immediately available for comment. Newspaper Der Standard said Benko's lawyer Norbert Wess confirmed the arrest.
A judge in Italy ordered the arrest of Benko and eight others as part of an investigation into alleged corruption of politicians in northern Italy, sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters last month. Afterwards, Austrian authorities said they were not planning to arrest him.
Benko, 47, became a self-made billionaire by building Signa from the ground up, leveraging units heavily in an era of super-low interest rates that began to end in 2022. As rates kept rising, key parts of Signa declared insolvency.
In June, police searched Benko's Tyrolean villa looking for documents related to ongoing investigations.
Prosecutors have been investigating Benko on suspicion of fraud following the collapse of Signa. He says allegations against him are unfounded.
Signa became the biggest casualty of Europe's property downturn, and creditors are seeking to salvage what they can.
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