Image: (APA/HELMUT FOHRINGER)
This emerges from figures from the Ministry of Finance’s transparency portal. For Christian Hafenecker, FPÖ parliamentary group leader in the COFAG investigative committee, this is more than permitted; the limit set by the EU Commission for corporate associations of 14 million euros has been exceeded.
According to the list of public data, the Kika/Leiner Group, consisting of KIKA Möbel-Handelsgesellschaft mbH, Leiner & kika Möbelhandels GmbH and the associated catering businesses LeiKi Gastro Alpha GmbH and LeiKi Gastro Beta GmbH, received the most COFAG funding. Specifically, the sum for these companies in the years 2020 to 2023 is around 9.1 million euros.
But other companies associated with the Signa Group also received COFAG funding during this period: including the Hotel Park Hyatt in Vienna, which received around 4.8 million euros in two years. The Hotel am Belvedere received support of around 3.7 million euros. The “Chalet N” (LS Luxury Collection GmbH), a luxury accommodation in Lech, received 1.1 million euros in funding from 2020 to 2023.
The funding could have crossed a line – depending on whether you see Benko’s investments as a group of companies or not. The European Commission informed the Republic of Austria in 2022 that the entire group of companies is decisive for determining the upper limits for financial measures. The maximum amount – sales and loss compensation added together – is just over 14 million euros.
“Black box without parliamentary control”
The FPÖ wants to confront the respondents in the U-Committee with these “irregularities” from Wednesday, as group leader Hafenecker announced. He also expects a “clarification” from Finance Minister Magnus Brunner (ÖVP) as to what payments were made to the affected companies and to what extent. Hafenecker also wants to know whether tax deferrals are available at other companies in the Signa Group besides Kika-Leiner. Including this, the Signa Group’s bankruptcy has already cost around 50 million euros.
In general, Hafenecker does not skimp on criticism of COFAG before the start of the surveys in the U-Committee. The government has thus set up a “black box without parliamentary control”. A “fast lane” has also been created for suspected ÖVP donors in order to quickly receive funding. Hafenecker also wonders why a “construction” like COFAG was necessary at all, since the financial administration could have made processing more efficient.
Hafenecker sees the COFAG investigative committee primarily as the first step in dealing with “this whole corona problem,” as he emphasized in a press conference on Tuesday. And he held out the prospect of further committees to deal with the pandemic after the National Council election; the Freedom Party would then have a sufficient majority to be able to set them up on their own, according to the forecast. For the time being, a “technical coalition” has been found with the SPÖ.
The Greens also addressed the issue on Tuesday. “Our declared goal is to be able to protect Austria from super-rich shell players like Benko in the future,” said their parliamentary group leader Nina Tomaselli in a broadcast. At the end of the U-Committee, she wants to see proposals for a package of measures that should make this protection possible. “We would like to work with all political groups to achieve this,” said Tomaselli.
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