Trentino judge insists on indictment in Benko case

Only four minor allegations were ruled out. The public prosecutor’s office must now draw up the indictment within ten days, according to Trentino judicial circles. The preliminary hearing judge then decides whether and for which allegations or persons the main proceedings will take place.

Step causes surprise

The move caused a surprise because the public prosecutor’s office had actually planned to drop the case against Benko. In December, the Trent public prosecutor’s office submitted a request to archive a key part of the investigation. The investigators came to the conclusion that the original “mafia” accusation was invalid. The judge postponed the final decision until the hearing on Thursday.

Specifically, investigators suspected Benko of being the “leader of a mafia-like criminal organization” founded with the aim of obtaining concessions and permits in order to make unjustified profits. The entrepreneur and investor acted at the head of the criminal organization with the help of the Bolzano tax advisor Heinz Peter Hager and an entrepreneur from the city of Rovereto, the Italian judicial authorities said about a year ago.

For some of the 77 people who were initially investigated for various suspicions, the U-Judge had already drawn the line in the summer. The public prosecutor’s office no longer believes that there was a criminal organization. In total, they want to file 35 reservations in the case. Allegations of 21 individual crimes are still ongoing, it said. However, Benko was not affected by this and he was not charged with any individual crimes.

Benko-Wess: “Highly unusual”

The latest development caused great surprise and criticism from Benko’s lawyer Wess. “Such an approach is – as our Italian colleagues confirm to us – extremely unusual,” Wess commented to the WHAT the fact that the court apparently did not follow the prosecutor’s suggestion. The decision was made by the same court that approved the coercive measures in the past. “Overall, that doesn’t give a good picture and it wouldn’t be possible or the case in Austria,” emphasized the lawyer.

As a result, another (independent) court in Italy will also have to review the charges that are now to be filed.