Vienna court extends detention of former Kika/Leiner chief

The Vienna Criminal Court has extended former Kika/Leiner chief Hermann Wieser’s pre-trial detention until December 14, ORF reported Tuesday. Wieser continues to deny the fraud allegations brought by the Economic and Corruption Prosecutor’s Office.

Wieser waived the detention hearing, a court spokesperson told the Austrian Press Agency. His defence can still appeal the decision.

One set of allegations concerns a 20 percent discount Kika/Leiner offered customers affected by storm Boris two years earlier. Prosecutors say the furniture retailer was already short of liquid funds when it made the offer. Customers paid deposits for furniture in good faith but received neither the goods nor refunds, according to the allegations. At least 4,700 customers are affected, with losses of at least 15 million euros, the prosecutor’s office says.

Investigators also suspect Wieser moved company assets shortly before insolvency proceedings began, to prevent or reduce payments to creditors. He allegedly approved payments for invoices without adequate services in return, diverting a total of 1.1 million euros, prosecutors say.

Wieser’s lawyer, Gerhard Podovsovnik, denied all allegations after his client’s arrest in late August and called for his release. He described Wieser as a committed restructuring manager who had fought to save the company, and denied that he had personally profited. Wieser is presumed innocent.

Kika/Leiner, once Austria’s largest furniture chain, closed its remaining stores in early 2025 after a prolonged decline. In 2023, the now-insolvent Signa sold the chain’s properties to Graz property developer Supernova and transferred the furniture business to Wieser. The company filed for insolvency for the first time shortly afterwards. After a second insolvency in November 2024, management could not secure new funding or an investor, and the company went bankrupt.