Insolvency delayed?

Raid at former Signa headquarters in Berlin

The Upper West high-rise building (marked in red) in Berlin, the former headquarters of Signa in Germany, was searched on Tuesday.(Bild: AFP/Odd Andersen, Krone KREATIV)

The former headquarters of Signa in Germany, in the Upper West high-rise building in Berlin, was raided on Tuesday. The Berlin public prosecutor's office confirmed the raid to "Manager Magazin", which had first reported on it.

Not many details about the house search are known yet. A spokesperson for the public prosecutor's office told "Manager Magazin" that the reason for the search was an existing initial suspicion of, among other things, delaying insolvency.

The purpose of the measure was to "find documents and data". It remained unclear whether the public prosecutor's office was targeting specific individuals or companies in the Signa Group.

Repeated raids on Benko
Since the insolvency of several large Signa companies last fall, the group and its founder René Benko have been the subject of repeated raids.

Just a few weeks ago, there were house searches in Luxembourg in connection with allegations of asset transfers relating to six luxury villas on Lake Garda.

Benko denies the allegations. The Soko Signa of the Federal Criminal Police Office and the Economic and Corruption Prosecutor's Office (WKStA) also visited his residence in Tyrol and several company locations in Vienna in the summer.