Four suspects have been sentenced in a major corruption case involving a unit of the Swiss economics ministry. But the main defendant is still awaiting a formal indictment.
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The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) announced on Wednesday that a trustee was given a suspended six-month prison sentence and three external IT managers were ordered to pay fines for offering material contributions and gifts of up to CHF100,000 ($100,000) to a senior employee of the State Secretariat of Economic Affairs (SECO).
The trustee was found guilty of forging documents, money laundering and abetting, according to the OAGExternal link.
Experts have criticised the verdict as being too light .
He also called for a better protection of whistle-blowers and increased efforts to investigate suspected corruption cases.
Main defendant
The SECO employee is accused of awarding contracts worth millions of francs without a public bidding process for IT projects since 2004, as well as accepting money and other favours.
The cases against the SECO employee – as well as other defendants – are still pending, five years after the corruption scandal was brought to light by investigative journalists working for the Tages-Anzeiger and Der Bund newspapers.
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Criminal complaint filed into corruption allegations
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After reports in the Tages-Anzeiger and Der Bund newspapers on Thursday, the economics ministry confirmed that an administrative investigation had been launched after they were informed of the claims a week earlier. A criminal complaint was announced later on Thursday. The newspapers alleged that a departmental head at SECO had developed suspicious business dealings with…
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A criminal complaint was filed with the prosecutor at the end of January after claims made in the press that a departmental head at SECO had developed suspicious business dealings with an external company. IT contracts are said to have been given out relating to unemployment insurance and VIP tickets, trips and gifts in excess…
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