Former SBB department head jailed for four years and seven months over major fraud
Switzerland’s Federal Criminal Court has convicted the former employee in the invoice case. Three accomplices were also sentenced; his sister was acquitted.
The Federal Criminal Court sentenced a former SBB railway department head to four years and seven months in prison on 29 October. SRF reports convictions for fraud, misconduct in public office, money laundering and document forgery. Three co-defendants received sentences of nineteen to twenty-six months. His sister was acquitted: the court accepted that she had not known about the criminal conduct. SRF says the judgment is not yet final and can be appealed.
The reporting describes about CHF 8.7 million in fictitious invoices over seventeen years. A fifteen-year limitation period meant SBB could recover only amounts dating from 1 April 2011, approximately CHF 5 million. About CHF 4.4 million allegedly reached the main defendant himself. The judge said his confession and cooperation reduced the sentence; prosecutors had requested six years and five months.
Swiss federal prosecutors announced on 27 February that a 54-year-old former SBB rail employee and four co-defendants had been indicted three days earlier. The main defendant allegedly caused the company losses of more than five million francs over years through invoices for undelivered or overpriced goods.
As a project manager and later department head, he allegedly entered orders in SBB’s system from 2007. Co-defendants’ companies then invoiced and received payments. According to the indictment, part was retained as remuneration and the rest transferred through other accounts. Allegations include commercial fraud, misconduct in public office, serious money laundering and document forgery.
