A letter from Fürstenfeld recently reached Justice Minister Alma Zadić and the economic and corruption public prosecutor’s office. The content of the letter was nothing less than a request to issue an arrest warrant against those responsible for the bankruptcy of the Signa empire around René Benko. Of course, the presumption of innocence applies to Benko and the managers, supervisory and advisory boards of the Signa companies.
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The letter was written by retired judge Martin Wabl from Fürstenfeld. He hasn’t received an answer yet, but he doesn’t expect one. “I expect a reaction that action will finally be taken and those primarily responsible will be held accountable for serious commercial fraud and the risk of concealment,” says Wabl, who has already written to Zadić several times.
Credibility in danger?
In his most recent letter, he calls for rapid and targeted action by the judiciary in connection with the “biggest bankruptcy of the Second Republic”: “Especially for general preventive reasons, the question is therefore asked as to how long the responsible persons in the judiciary will spend before issuing a corresponding arrest warrant against those responsible “The people responsible for the bankruptcy still want to wait,” it says.
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Wabl, who relies on his many years of experience as a judge, ultimately sees the credibility of the judiciary at risk: “This would be an opportunity to set an example to show that the fight against such crimes is taken seriously.” The former SPÖ and Günen MPs are anyway convinced that “sooner or later those responsible will be charged.”