Hi Ingo,
Thanks for posting the question (and even more for providing the answer yourself 
)
I have recorded a video for the SAP HANA Academy on configuring ODBC for Linux (RHEL and SLES) that shows how to avoid the issue in the first place (download source code from unixODBC and run configure with the --SYSCONFDIR flag, or - when using an RPM - how to create link, as you suggested.
SAP HANA Academy - SAP HANA installation: 7. HANA ODBC on Linux - YouTube
Thanks again for sharing this on SCN.
Denys van Kempen, SAP HANA Academy