Bitter presents

Pre-trial detention for René Benko extended

Instead of champagne, Benko will still only have prison fare for Christmas.(Bild: APA/EXPA)

Although his defense lawyers were recently hopeful, real estate juggler René Benko will not be out of prison for Christmas after all. His pre-trial detention was extended by up to two months on Tuesday. According to the judge in charge, there is still a risk of the crime being committed.

In the last pre-trial detention order from November 10, which is available to the "Krone", the judge had already assumed in more than clear terms that there was a risk of the crime being committed:

"Further criminal acts"
It can be specifically assumed "that the accused, at large, will continue to have the opportunity to operate in business life in the usual manner practiced over many years, either personally or through third parties, and to commit further criminal acts against the assets of others within the framework of the foundations and their subsidiaries."

"High criminal energy"
It also states: "Furthermore, the defendant's high level of criminal energy and apparent lack of awareness of wrongdoing is demonstrated by the fact that he concealed his de facto power within the Signa Group and the foundations as well as his ownership structure for many years." According to the judge, the Laura Private Foundation was a "circumvention construction". This applies "equally" to the Ingbe Foundation and the Arual Foundation, which are registered in Liechtenstein.

Benko is not allowed to pass through this gate of the Innsbruck "Zieglstadl" today after all - this is incomprehensible to his lawyers.(Bild: Johanna Birbaumer)

Instead of champagne, Benko will still only be served prison fare at Christmas.(Bild: APA/EXPA)

The 48-year-old has already been convicted twice for fraudulent crida, once to 24 months unconditionally and once to 15 months conditionally.

Defense lawyer: "We see it differently"
Defense lawyer Norbert Wess responded to the "Krone" newspaper about the new extension of the prison sentence due to the risk of committing the crime: "We see it differently because it does not take sufficient account of the previous (recognizable) prison sentence for an Austrian citizen who has not been convicted of any criminal offences to date and who is also fully socially integrated - and therefore does not take proportionality sufficiently into account. We will therefore also appeal against this decision this time."

Wess had already announced that he would file an application to have the pre-trial detention lifted. Benko's wife Nathalie, co-defendant in the second trial, was acquitted.