The Austrian ex-billionaire René Benko refused to answer most questions during an investigative committee hearing in the Austrian parliament on Wednesday, provoking the ire of the committee's chairman, who threatened to fine him.
The committee is investigating alleged preferential treatment of entrepreneurs by Chancellor Karl Nehammer's conservative Austrian People's Party (ÖVP).
Benko's Signa Holding empire, which ran into deep financial trouble and collapsed, owned high-end real estate and retail stores, including luxury department store KaDeWe in Berlin.
Benko was asked about his relationship with former chancellor and ÖVP leader Sebastian Kurz. Kurz had attended a major event at a Signa property on Italy's Lake Garda as a guest a few months before his appointment as chancellor in the summer of 2017, Benko stated on the record.
Kurz had also stayed on Benko's yacht after his retirement from politics, said the 47-year-old entrepreneur. Kurz was one of the people Signa hired as an adviser after his retirement from politics.
On the last day of the committee's inquiry, lawmakers had trouble getting any answers from the 47-year-old.
"I ask for your understanding that I will not go into the content of most of the questions," Benko said on Wednesday, dampening hopes for deeper insights right at the start of the five-hour session. Benko is facing multiple charges and accusations in connection with Signa's collapse, so making statements to the committee could incriminate him.
After Benko refused to make statements about alleged celebrity guests in a luxury chalet, the chairman of the committee announced that he would apply to the court to fine Benko up to €1,000 ($1,084).
