Public Prosecutor's Office of Trento to Drop Charges Against Benko

A corresponding request has been submitted to an investigating judge in Trento, reported northern Italian media. According to them, the public prosecutor's office concluded that although there were close contacts between some individuals, they never acted in a criminal association.

"If the investigation in Italy now remains that both the so-called 'Mafia Paragraph' - which according to my information is already definitely the case - and the criminal charge of 'criminal organization' are dropped by the public prosecutor's office in Italy, then I consider it quite likely that no criminally relevant charge will be maintained against Mr. Benko in Italy and no indictment can be brought against him that would affect him," explained Benko's lawyer Norbert Wess to the APA.

Investigators had suspected Benko of being "leader of a mafia-like criminal organization"

Specifically, investigators had suspected Benko of being "leader of a mafia-like criminal organization" that was founded with the aim of obtaining concessions and permits to achieve unjustified profits. The entrepreneur and investor was said to have acted at the head of the criminal organization with the help of the Bolzano tax advisor Heinz Peter Hager and an entrepreneur from the city of Rovereto, according to the Italian judicial authorities about a year ago.

In the meantime, the public prosecutor's office no longer believes that there was a criminal organization. Overall, they want to file 35 reservations in the case, writes the newspaper "Dolomiten". However, charges for 21 individual offenses are still pending, it was further stated. Benko is not affected by this, as no individual offenses have been charged against him.

(APA/Red)

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