Hygiene Austria 2021 came into the media because of the scandal surrounding several million FFP2 masks that were imported from China and incorrectly declared. Bankruptcy followed three years later. The final accounting meeting took place on Thursday in the regional court in Wiener Neustadt – with a shock for the creditors.
According to a current release from the creditor protection association Creditreform, they only receive a quota of six percent. As the ORF reports, the insolvency court has recognized claims totaling around 1.26 million euros, which were registered by around 40 creditors.
Original quota not met
The manufacturer of mouth-nose and FFP2 protective masks filed for insolvency in February 2024 and applied for restructuring proceedings without self-administration. At that time, the goal was to continue running the company on a smaller scale after restructuring and to pay the creditors the minimum quota of 20 percent within two years – that could not be achieved.
China masks, state orders
Background: Hygiene Austria LP GmbH was founded right at the beginning of the corona pandemic in March 2020 as a joint venture between Lenzing and Palmers. To the outside world, the company presented itself as a domestic company with products “Made in Austria”. Delegations of politicians were received who organized large government contracts.
The Hygiene Austria scandal
In 2021, investigators discovered workers in the Hygiene Austria production hall who were relabeling masks from China with the label “Made in Austria” – sometimes without registering with social security. The suspicion was of organized fraud and undeclared work. The company admitted that it only purchased goods from China during peak times. The company was also suspected of having evaded hundreds of thousands of euros in taxes when importing millions of masks. The affair also caused a political stir: the family of the then managing director is said to have had connections in the Chancellor’s circle. The Chamber of Labor filed more than 100 lawsuits regarding unpaid wages. Bankruptcy finally followed in 2024.
Only later did it become known that masks from China were advertised and sold as valuable work from Austria. In addition, towards the end of the pandemic there were reports of tax fraud by the company – tax evasion on a large scale. Both Palmers and Hygiene Austria had always rejected this. The investigation was finally discontinued in 2023.
Hygiene Austria cited “massive declines in sales due to the expiration of the corona pandemic and the associated significant decline in the purchase of face masks as well as various pending court cases” as the reason for the bankruptcy last year.
