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Today, important donors and renowned entrepreneurs are invited to the inquiry commission. Real estate investor Rene Benko, whom former FPÖ chief Heinz-Christian Strache had named as an alleged donor in the Ibiza video, took the first step.
12:58 pm, October 21, 2020
Real estate investor started today in the Ibiza investigation committee Rene Benko, the ex-head of the FPÖ Heinz-Christian Strache like the supposed donor in the Ibiza video. Benko told the committee that there were no donations to affiliated parties or associations. Commenting on the former FPÖ boss, Benko said: “You know Strache, he likes to talk a lot.”
“How did Strache come to say that Benko pays the ÖVP and Benko pays us, the FPÖ?” Trial judge Wolfgang Pöschl knowledge. “You have to ask Strache, and I have no idea. He has already publicly apologized and called it a show. I can’t explain how he got there.” According to Benko, neither the Signa Group nor he personally have made donations to political parties or affiliated associations or organizations. Benko is unaware of indirect support (employment contracts, advertisements).
Strache called him a few days before the Ibiza video was posted. “But he talked a lot about the bush. I only realized what he meant when I saw the excerpts from the video,” Benko said. “My impression was that he had a guilty conscience.” Still, one “phoned from time to time,” but not monthly or weekly.
He said he mostly talked “about de facto irrelevant things” with Strache when he met him at the Signa Törggele event in Vienna. For example, Strache would always “ask how doctor (Susanne) Riess and doctor (Alfred) Gusenbauer are doing, because they are on our advisory board.”
The FPÖ parliamentary group leader Christian Hafenecker asked Benko about his relationship with the Federal Chancellor. He already knew “it felt like an eternity”. According to Benko, he doesn’t even know if Kurz was secretary of state at the time: “We don’t know each other well enough to go on vacation together.” Benko did not want to specify how often he spoke to him on the phone, saying he was “very busy.” In total, you have more than 2,000 appointments or meetings a year and twenty to thirty phone calls a day, and you also receive between 30,000 and 40,000 emails a year. Benko said that he did not call Kurz on the phone several times a week, but several times a year.
The live blog session:
A total of nine respondents are invited three days this week. In addition to the main donors of ÖVP Klaus Ortner Y Stefan pierer NEOS entrepreneurs and followers also come Hans-Peter Haselsteinerwho also reached an involuntary honor in the Ibiza video of the former head of -FPÖ Heinz-Christian Strache. In addition to donations for parties, the theme of the game is back on the agenda.
Benko and Pierer are invited for today Wednesday. Former FPÖ boss Heinz-Christian Strache had named Benko as an alleged donor in the Ibiza video. Among other things, the head of KTM, Pierer, will provide information about his monetary donations to the ÖVP, who, for example, made a significant donation to the People’s Party in the 2017 election year. The head of Uniqa concludes on Wednesday Andreas Brandstetter.
Real estate offers at sight
The parliamentary groups want to examine various real estate deals of the federal real estate subsidiary ARE and the federal real estate company (BIG). Green group leader Nina tomaselli He stated in his opening statement that the ARE, which actually belongs to taxpayers, is going to sleep with private real estate investors. “In this parallel system, a policy is pursued that completely ignores the needs of the population,” Tomaselli said.
But he also wanted to address Benko’s acquisition of the old post office building at Stubenring when he was interviewed. After all, the building had been improved by many millions by Signa after federal real estate entered the market. Benko’s Signa Prime Selection was acquired by Wiener Postsparkasse in 2013. Following an agreement with the state-owned Bundesimmobiliengesellschaft (BIG) in 2019 (the Austrian state was won as a tenant, the Vienna University of Applied Arts will move from 2021) has been significantly improved.
“Interesting personality”
Leader of the parliamentary group FPÖ Christian hafenecker described Benko as an “interesting personality”. Your real estate business will be at the center of the survey. In addition to the Postsparkasse, Hafenecker also wants to focus on buying Leiner’s flagship store in Vienna’s Mariahilfer Straße at the end of 2018. Benko achieved what no Austrian had ever done before, namely opening a district court for Christmas .
Also leader of the parliamentary group SPÖ Kai Jan Krainer wants to follow up on offers in ARE and BIG. The deals Benko had made with the federal government were at least “for his benefit.”
The leader of the parliamentary group ÖVP saw it completely differently Wolfgang Gerstl: There are three invited “successful entrepreneurs”, each of whom cannot find a single reference to the evidence in the archives. Success should not be seen as illegal, it should also be noted that these entrepreneurs also create jobs. It’s also about international reputation. “We are not allowed to do business with seizures. I wish some of them would write that down in their stud books.”
