Rene Benko’s relationship with Sebastian Kurz

DrThe bankruptcy of the investment holding company Signa also concerns two former Austrian chancellors. Both the Social Democrat Alfred Gusenbauer and the Christian Democrat Sebastian Kurz were on Cigna’s salaries. Both served as door openers for Signa founder Rene Benko during their tenure. Gusenbauer now joins the creditors’ club. But Kurz’s company SK Management also created an invoice for another Signa company for €2.4 million after a successful investor search for Signa – but only €750,000 of that amount was paid, a Kurz spokesman confirmed to the Austrian news agency. Gusenbauer is on Signa’s list of creditors as is his company Gusenbauer Project Development and Investment.

The former SPÖ president has served as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the luxury real estate sector Signa Prime since 2010 and the top supervisor of the Signa Development path since 2015. According to research by Al-Akhbar magazine, he paid consulting fees amounting to 7 million euros for the years from 2020 to spring 2022.