Special audit demanded of SAirGroup
The Swiss government and the canton of Zurich are both backing a special audit into last year's record losses of SFr2.9 billion ($1.65 billion) at SAirGroup.
The government and the cantonal authority, which each hold a three per cent stake in the airline group, are both considering taking legal action against the company’s board of directors, all of whom, bar one, announced last month that they would be stepping down.
The canton said it would vote to withhold the so-called legal discharge for all SAirGroup supervisory board members with the exception of Mario Corti, who took over and chairman and chief executive in March.
However, in a separate statement the government said it would be pushing to withhold the legal discharge for the entire board.
Corti joined the board of SAirGroup in April 2000.
Canton Zurich also said it would seek legal recourse to secure a special audit if shareholders did note vote in favour of such a step at the company’s annual meeting next Wednesday.
Mario Corti is expected to outline plans for SAirGroup’s loss making French airline investments at the meeting, while also setting out a clearer timetable of how he plans to refocus the troubled company.
SAirGroup, which controls Swissair and Crossair, was plunged into crisis at the end of January when its chief executive Phillip Bruggisser was forced off the board as the company abandoned its strategy of investments in a series of loss-making European carriers.
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