René Benko has a heated argument with his former top advisor

According to the WKStA, there is suspicion of breach of trust at the expense of Signa Holding GmbH. Those responsible at Signa Holding are said to have granted Sarpis Holding “an economically unjustifiable loan at non-arm’s length conditions”. The loan is said to have been used to purchase a private house in Switzerland belonging to the then Signa consultant.

Benko and Berninghaus insult each other in several statements and interviews with the WKStA; a few days ago Benko responded to a submission from Berninghaus again with a written statement. They only agree on one thing: the flow of money was economically justifiable and there was no criminal liability.

Central key figure

Otherwise, the two will be covered in massive accusations. “The loan under investigation was granted for the economically understandable motive of incentivizing Dieter Berninghaus, who was a key figure in the company’s development, and of sustainably retaining him in the corporate group,” Benko writes in the new submission to the WKStA. “Rather, Dieter Berninghaus’s argument is essentially limited to (…) making a general assertion that, contrary to the clear wording of the relevant contracts, in reality no credit agreement was agreed between the parties, but rather an early realization of profits (from the net asset value) that does not have to be repaid.” Postscript: “In view of the fact that these claims cannot be reconciled with the true facts, it is not surprising that Dieter Berninghaus (…) cannot provide a single piece of evidence that would be able to confirm or substantiate his claims.”

According to Benko, the loan made it possible for Berninghaus “to obtain the liquidity he was seeking without having to sell shares from the phantom stock holding in Signa Holding.” “This enabled him to generate maximum liquidity and at the same time continue to participate 100 percent in the potential future increase in value of the phantom stock investment,” said the Signa founder. Phantom stocks are virtual shares in which employees receive fictitious shares in the company without becoming real shareholders. They reflect the performance of a company.

Fierce counterattack

“The fact that the net asset value advance payment is ‘dressed’ in contracts that at first glance read like loan agreements, and that the incriminated payment of 16.7 million euros was made by Signa Holding, is solely René Benko’s responsibility,” said Berninghaus. “It fits into the picture that René Benko woven the entire Signa Group into an opaque network of loan relationships, which unfortunately extended to the Sarpis, as such concrete outflows of liquidity could be economically shown on the balance sheet as assets (receivables).”

And he continues: “To claim in all seriousness that granting a loan instead of a high cash bonus (…) enabled the creation of an alternative management incentive for Berninghaus (…) is completely unrealistic and, moreover, almost impossible to beat in terms of audacity.”