The owner of the property, René Benko, was captured by Austria

Open the editor’s digest for free

FT editor Rula Khalaf picks her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.

Austrian property tycoon René Benko has been arrested after Vienna’s criminal prosecutors accused him of making false statements in the bankruptcy proceedings of Singa’s estate in an attempt to steal the property.

Law enforcement officials said Benko was arrested Thursday because he was considered a flight risk and prosecutors thought he might tamper with evidence. They also accused him of falsifying a document.

In an unrelated investigation, Italian police issued an arrest warrant for Benko in December in the South Tyrol region in connection with an alleged attack on his business. Vienna’s criminal prosecutors announced on Thursday the creation of a joint investigation team with prosecutors in Berlin and Munich to speed up cross-border investigations.

Benko’s arrest comes more than a year after the collapse of Singa Congress, which cost insurance companies, banks and other investors in Austria and Germany billions of euros.

Prosecutors allege that Benko is the ultimate beneficial owner of the Innsbruck family estate named after his daughter, Laura. The Financial Times reported last year that a Sina Group company transferred more than €300mn to two entities controlled by that foundation before it went bankrupt.

Austrian prosecutors have filed charges against an entity called the Benko Laura Foundation that it failed to disclose its own bankruptcy proceedings.

“In doing so, he hid the assets and kept the assets in the foundation away from law enforcement authorities, the trustee and creditors,” the prosecutor said. press releasePointing to evidence gathered during a months-long investigation, including phone surveillance.

Benko is also accused of fabricating evidence by fabricating receipts to keep three valuable guns out of the hands of authorities, prosecutors said.