VIENNA (Reuters) – Austrian property tycoon Rene Benko can remain in custody for a further 14 days, a Vienna court ruled on Friday, after the founder of collapsed property group Signa was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of trying to hide assets from creditors.
Prosecutors said on Thursday that, in the context of his personal insolvency, 47-year-old Benko was suspected of secretly using a trust meant for his immediate family to keep those assets from being recovered.
The Vienna criminal court said in a statement it believed there was a risk of evidence being tampered with and it was likely Benko would commit an offence if he remained a free man. He was arrested in his home city of Innsbruck on Thursday and transferred to a Vienna jail the same day.
Benko has previously denied allegations made against him.
On evidence being concealed, prosecutors said Benko was suspected of falsifying evidence by having drawn up a receipt for three valuable guns after the fact so as to put them beyond the reach of the authorities, administrators and creditors.
Benko’s lawyer Norbert Wess said he had taken note of the court’s decision and declined to comment further.
A self-made billionaire, Benko rode the wave of ultra-low interest rates to rapidly expand his business, even acquiring stakes in prestigious properties from Britain’s Selfridges department stores to the Chrysler Building in New York.
The anti-corruption office has various probes under way relating to Signa and Benko. Last April it opened an investigation into the entrepreneur on suspicion of fraud.
A judge in Italy has also ordered the arrest of Benko and eight others as part of a probe into alleged corruption of politicians there.
(Reporting by Francois Murphy; Editing by Louise Heavens and David Evans)
