Crans-Montana: Swiss police investigate fire at another Moretti property

Jacques and Jessica Moretti, the owners of the Le Constellation bar and the Vieux Chalet restaurant in Crans-Montana. Keystone-SDA

As part of the ongoing investigation into the Le Constellation bar fire tragedy, Valais prosecutors and police are examining the case of a fire in 2024 at the "Vieux Chalet" restaurant, which also belongs to the Moretti couple. They want to know if the couple committed insurance fraud, reports Swiss public radio RTS. Jacques Moretti's lawyer has criticised this decision.

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“Le Vieux Chalet” was engulfed in flames on February 29, 2024. Two months later, the judge in charge of the case issued a decision not to proceed against the restaurant’s managers, Jessica and Jacques Moretti.

At the time, the Office of the Attorney General of canton Valais declared that “the hypothesis of a fire caused by a technical malfunction is favoured. Therefore, deliberate or accidental human intervention, as well as an accident likely to entail criminal liability, can reasonably be ruled out.”

But the fire at the “Le Constellation” bar in Crans-Montana on January 1 prompted prosecutors to assign an investigation mandate to the Valais cantonal police on April 29, according to RTS, confirmed by Valais cantonal public prosecutor Beatrice Pilloud to the Keystone-ATS news agency. The aim is to analyse suspicions raised by the Federal Office of Police.

“The Vieux Chalet fire case has not been reopened and there is no extension of the investigation at this stage,” she insisted.

+ Crans-Montana tragedy highlights weaknesses of Swiss federal system

Moretti lawyer criticises

In a report drawn up at the beginning of 2026 sent to the public prosecutor’s office on February 23, the Money Laundering Reporting Office of the Federal Office of Police questioned whether the Morettis are “guilty of money laundering, disloyal management, forgery of documents, serious tax offences and probable insurance fraud”.

Pilloud said that, should the case go to trial, it would not be separated from the investigation into the events of January 1.

Contacted by RTS, Jacques Moretti’s lawyer, Patrick Michod, criticised the prosecutors’ decision.

“These events have already been investigated by the criminal authorities, who have not found the slightest criminal offence,” he declared.

Translated from French by AI/sb

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