Causa Signa: Gusenbauer and the fateful agreement

“My uncle, Alfred Gusenbauerwas never staying here. The last time he visited us briefly was in December 2020,” the niece said. He used to be registered with his mother in Ybbs, but when she came to the retirement home in autumn 2025, he asked the niece “if he could contact us”. “Because of that, there was a little discussion because my husband and I didn’t agree. We didn’t want to have any problems about it,” the niece said. “In addition, my husband, as the provider of accommodation, never signed the registration form. But we already knew that he had registered his main residence here since October 2025.”

Forty minutes after the search began, the investigators left again. Nothing was confiscated. Things were different at Gusenbauer’s Vienna address. Two briefcases, an iPad and a USB stick were seized here. Eleven days later, a damaged iPhone 11 Pro was seized at Gusenbauer’s office address in Vienna.

Clarification announced

According to the files, the economic and corruption public prosecutor’s office has been investigating the 66-year-old ex-politician and the former German Signa board member Timo H. since mid-November 2025. The focus is on an “advance payment for the profit sharing” of 6.4 million euros from Signa Prime Selection AG, which was transferred to H. in November 2022. In addition, there is a further 3.6 million euros from the sister company Signa Development Selection AG – a total of ten million euros, which is now the focus of criminal investigations. The accusation is of infidelity.

“Dr. Gusenbauer rejects the allegations,” said an earlier statement from his lawyer Rüdiger Schender. “He assumes that he will be able to resolve the suspicions against him in a timely manner.” H. also denies the allegations.

Trade-oriented

The decisive factor for the late house searches was probably a civil case before the Vienna Commercial Court by the Signa Prime insolvency administrator against Timo H..

Before the searches, the investigators evaluated the protocols of a civil case before the Vienna Commercial Court in which Timo H. was sued for repayment of millions from the insolvency administrators, the so-called secondary intervener is Alfred Gusenbauer. The analysis of Soko Signa comprises 62 pages.

The evaluation

In his hearing on March 17, 2026, Gusenbauer disclosed to the commercial court how the controversial transaction came about. H. approached him in 2022 because he needed liquid funds – allegedly for a stake in Signa Holding, to which he had been invited by René Benko. The idea: Instead of the contractually agreed profit sharing after project completion, H. should receive an early but reduced advance payment. The defendant Timo H. was allegedly interested in realizing investments more quickly.

In the course of these discussions, Gusenbauer is said to have succeeded in reducing H.’s profit share from gross 54.2 million euros to 12.57 million euros. “For this reason, this agreement was also in the company’s interest, as the payment would then have been significantly lower than the profit at the end of the project,” Gusenbauer justified himself in court. However, he is said to have agreed on the advance payment without the necessary approval of the entire supervisory board.

The analysis of the Soko

“In his interrogation before the Vienna Commercial Court, Gusenbauer stated that the agreement of October 20, 2022 had not been explicitly approved by the Supervisory Board and confirmed again that there was no resolution by the Supervisory Board regarding the payment to H. and that a repayment had been waived,” says the investigation file. “Gusenbauer admitted that in his opinion a circular resolution from the supervisory board was necessary for the agreement, but this did not come about because some members of the supervisory board had fundamental objections.”

Meanwhile, the ex-chancellor referred to a supervisory board resolution of June 24, 2019, which authorized him to “negotiate and conclude” H.’s employment contract. The insolvency administrator contradicts: The 2019 resolution only authorized Gusenbauer to extend the existing service contract, “but not to establish a completely new milestone concept or to advance due dates”. Timo H. said that he had assumed that the necessary resolution by the supervisory board had been initiated by Gusenbauer.