René Benko seeks electronic house arrest as court reviews his detention

René Benko, the former head of the Signa empire, has been incarcerated for 628 days and now seeks release from the Innsbruck prison under electronic surveillance. His attorney, Norbert Wess, submitted an application for a monitored house arrest, which will be considered by a single judge on Wednesday in Innsbruck, a venue chosen for the first time. The court previously upheld a 30-month sentence after finding Benko guilty of deliberately moving assets to evade creditors, including a gift to his mother and a rent pre-payment for a villa on Hungerburg.

Having served roughly two-thirds of his term, the court saw no special preventive reasons to deny early release, but the Wirtschafts- und Korruptionsstaatsanwaltschaft continues investigations across multiple cases. Benko must also appear in November for a separate trial involving alleged fraud linked to Hans Peter Haselsteiner and a hunting rifle.