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Swiss Post sells off French bus unit at heart of subsidy scandal

CarPostal France bus
Swiss PostBus has withdrawn from France following the subsidies scandal. CarPostal France

Switzerland’s state-owned postal service has sold its French bus subsidiary at a huge loss. CarPostal France was at the centre of an illegal subsidies scandal that saw it fined in France and a Swiss criminal probe opened into its parent company Swiss PostBus.

CarPostal France was sold on Tuesday for an undisclosed sum to Keolis group. As a result Swiss Post recorded a loss of CHF19 million and a negative exchange rate impact of CHF14 million, reports Swiss public television RTSExternal link.

In June, the French bus subsidiary was forced to settle an unfair competition case for €6.2 million. This was the result of a financial scam that had serious repercussions in Switzerland.

Swiss PostBus has been found to have pumped millions of illegal subsidies to CarPostal France to allow it to undercut rival companies’ prices and win routes in France. Swiss PostBus hid these payments and in turn claimed large federal and cantonal subsidies in Switzerland.

The scandal led to the departure of the entire PostBus top management, the CEO of SwissPost and several members of the board. Last September, the company agreed to hand back CHF205.3 million to local and federal government.

Swiss federal police are investigating several former PostBus executives. A Swiss parliamentary committee is also probing the events.

With over 4,200 employees and around 2,300 vehicles at its disposal, PostBus transports around 155 million passengers each year.

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