Swissmint sued for alleged gold coin fraud
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Swissmint sued for alleged gold coin fraud
A coin collector has filed a criminal complaint with the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland against Swissmint, the federal mint, for fraud in connection with the sale of the limited-edition 100-franc gold Vreneli.
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A total of 2,500 jubilee gold Vreneli were offered for sale on Swissmint’s web shop on July 1. However, the sales platform crashed, leaving numerous collectors empty-handed. A coin collector is now accusing Swissmint of fraud and misconduct in public office, as first reported by the SonntagsZeitung newspaper.
Specifically, Swissmint is alleged to have deliberately manipulated its web shop. According to the SonntagsZeitung, 27 dealers officially favoured by Swissmint as well as a few others who were able to bid for gold Vreneli despite the overloaded website benefited.
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The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) confirmed on Sunday at the request of the Swiss News Agency Keystone-SDA that it had received a criminal complaint. This will now be examined in accordance with the usual procedure.
The parliamentary finance delegation (Findel) is also getting involved: Findel president and parliamentarian Lars Guggisberg confirmed on Sunday that the incident would be discussed at the next Findel meeting. “And I have instructed that a statement be requested from the responsible department,” said Guggisberg at the request of Keystone-SDA.
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Swissmint reports to the finance ministry. The ministry had “no knowledge of this criminal complaint”, it said in response to an enquiry.
Translated from German by DeepL/ts
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