Confirms innocence

Benko’s “right-hand man” wants out of house arrest

The auditor Heinz Peter Hager is regarded as Benko's representative in South Tyrol.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Christof Birbaumer, zVg.)

Bolzano tax consultant Heinz Peter Hager, who is regarded as the "right-hand man" of Tyrolean businessman René Benko in Italy, applied to a pre-trial judge in Trento on Thursday to be released from house arrest. His lawyer maintained his innocence.

His lawyer Carlo Bertacchi announced after almost two and a half hours of questioning that he had "given detailed explanations of his position and commented on all the accusations made against him".

Judge is now examining
"My client has emphasized his innocence and denied the criminal conduct of which he is accused," added Bertacchi. The lawyer said that the application for release from house arrest was now being examined by the judge. The judge had reserved the right to give an answer within the required technical deadline.

Also part of a "mafia-like criminal organization"?
Hager is one of a total of eight people who have been under house arrest since last week in the wake of extensive investigations, which also concern Benko. The public prosecutor's office in Trento suspects Benko of being the "leader of a mafia-like criminal organization" that was founded with the aim of obtaining concessions and permits in order to make unjustified profits, according to the investigation files.

According to the Trentino public prosecutor's office, Benko acted at the head of the criminal organization with the help of the Bolzano tax consultant Hager and the entrepreneur Paolo Signoretti from the city of Rovereto. Hager is also chairman of the board of the Laura Private Foundation named after Benko's daughter.