How the foundations of the ex-billionaire should be cracked

On Thursday he is again the number one topic of conversation in the Innsbruck Regional Court. Because Benko’s mass administrator Andreas Grabenweger sued Ingeborg Benko in a civil trial. Ms. Benko is the economically beneficiary of the Laura private foundation based in Innsbruck and the Ingbe Foundation in Vaduz, Liechtenstein.

Grabenweger wants to crack the foundations and access the assets of the two facilities. The mass administrator assumes that Benko’s mother is only “advanced” and René Benko actually has control over the assets of the two foundations. The foundation’s assets should move in the three -digit million range. Benko himself is fledged as a sole trader and faced with around 2.4 billion euros in demands from creditors.

He denies his livelihood from an earnings of a net of 3,700 euros minus seizures and financial grants from his mother, which pays invoices for him.

The assets of a private foundation only belongs to its own and the foundation’s boards are independent. That means: “The moment a founder says I put my assets in the foundation, the assets no longer belong to him,” says a well -known legal expert to the courier. “So if I want to act against the founder law, I cannot access the assets of the foundation.” But this is broken through where the founder determines what is happening with the assets of the foundation. “Namely where the founder actually decides on the use of the foundation’s assets,” says the lawyer.

Criminal law is a trump card

“If Mr. Benko proves the boarding board members, my mother transfers money, then one can conclude that the foundation’s board is not leading the foundation, but actually Mr. Benko,” said the expert.

However, it is not forbidden that a founder makes suggestions for a good investment to the boarding board members. You then have to decide independently about the investment.

The two private foundations can be cracked, says the renowned lawyer Johannes Zink. He represents several damaged signa investors. “If the investigation by the economic and corruption prosecutor can demonstrate that crimes have been committed by the private foundations and their organs, namely according to the Association Responsibility Act, the foundations and their organs are credential,” says Zink to the courier. “The creditors can access the assets of the foundations if the foundations have committed crimes.”

Back to civil law

“I don’t think you can crack the foundations,” says another legal expert. “Just because Mr. Benko rules into the foundations and do something at his commitment at his behest does the foundation’s ability still belong to the foundation and not Mr. Benko. The board of trustees may then be responsible for one or the other breach of duty because he did not decide autonomously, but the foundation’s ability remains untouched. ”

In addition, René Benko did not receive a distribution, but the beneficiary, his mother. Benko’s mother has the Laura private foundation distributed money and, for example, pays the son the rent for the luxury villa in Igls. If she handed over the money directly to him, René Benko would have to deliver it to the mass manager.