Ex-Swiss railway manager charged with multi-million franc fraud
Swiss prosecutors have brought charges against a former Swiss Federal Railways employee and four other people accused of committing a CHF5 million fraud.
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Ex-Swiss railway manager charged with multi-million franc fraud
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Charges from the Office of the Attorney General include commercial fraud, misconduct in public office, money laundering and forgery of documents.
The former employee of the state-run rail company was arrested in November 2024 following a criminal complaint. This sparked a criminal investigation that has now laid charges against the accused.
The 54-year-old main defendant is accused of defrauding Swiss Federal Railways of over CHF8 million over several years. He and four co-defendants are alleged to have conspired to issue invoices for non-delivered or over-priced goods.
Because the alleged scam was started many years ago, the statute of limitations has reduced the scope of the charges to around CHF5 million.
The fraudulent system was allegedly set up in 2007 via various companies founded by co-defendants in order to repeatedly rip-off the railway company. As project manager and later department head, the main defendent is accused of entering falsified material orders in the rail company system.
Goods are said to have been ordered at over-inflated prices for which Swiss Federal Railways had no use. In the majority of cases, however, deliveries never arrived, according to prosecutors.
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Adapted from German by AI/mga
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