Austria suspects woman helped fallen property tycoon Benko hide assets

VIENNA (Reuters) - Austrian prosecutors said on Friday they had placed a woman under investigation on suspicion of helping property tycoon Rene Benko hide assets from administrators and creditors dealing with his real estate group Signa's collapse.

Benko has been in custody for more than three months as the Central Prosecutors' Office for Economic Crimes and Corruption (WKStA) continues its investigation into whether assets that should have gone towards paying back creditors were hidden in a trust of which his immediate family are beneficiaries. Benko has denied the allegations made against him.

The WKStA said it had carried out raids in relation to the case on Friday at two locations in Tyrol, the mountainous state in western Austria where Benko lived and founded Signa. The reason for the raids was that the existing investigation was broadened to include the woman, it said, without naming her.

"She is suspected of having helped Signa founder Rene Benko conceal valuable items, thus putting them beyond the reach of administrators and creditors, thereby preventing or reducing the satisfaction of creditors," the WKStA said in a statement.

"She is thus suspected of having contributed to the possible criminal offence of insolvency fraud," it added. It did not say whether she had been detained.

Benko, 47, became a billionaire by tapping low interest rates to rapidly expand his business, acquiring stakes in prestigious properties from Britain's Selfridges department stores to the Chrysler Building in New York.

When the tide turned, Signa became the biggest casualty of Europe's property downturn and Benko went bankrupt. Key parts of his empire entered insolvency proceedings or went into liquidation, with administrators trying to salvage what they could of creditors' investments.

(Reporting by Francois Murphy, editing by Philippa Fletcher)