Austrian court to rule on transferring ex — billionaire Benko to house arrest

VIENNA, Oct 13 (Reuters) — An Austrian court will decide on Wednesday whether to transfer fallen property tycoon Rene Benko from prison to house arrest with an ankle monitor, his lawyer Norbert Wess said on Tuesday. Benko has served about nine months of a 30-month sentence for insolvency fraud and has applied for a transfer, A court in his home city of Innsbruck, where he is being held, will hear the request on Wednesday morning, Wess said A sprawling investigation into crimes potentially committed in the collapse of the Signa property group founded by Benko is still ongoing Austrian prosecutors suspect Benko and others of committing a range of offences in connection with Signa's collapse, including fraud Benko has been convicted of insolvency-related fraud in the two cases from the investigation to reach trial so far. In the second, he received a 15-month suspended prison sentence in December Benko will argue that a transfer would allow him to better prepare for future court cases, citing his right to a fair trial under article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights, Wess told Reuters in an email If released from prison, Benko would move into a roughly 60-square-metre (650-s