Zurich court must rule on multi-million-euro construction fraud
Published: Tuesday, Nov 28th 2023, 18:30
العودة إلى البث المباشر
A 52-year-old fraudster from the construction industry had to answer to the Zurich District Court on Tuesday. He confessed to having released fictitious invoices. In this way, he defrauded the canton of Zurich and private companies of 3 million francs.
He was sorry, the Swiss man said in court. "But at some point I was so deep into it that I couldn't stop." He was sorry. He also apologized to those he had harmed.
Over a period of seven years, he used the same trick over and over again to cause millions in losses: As a project manager for construction projects, for example at Zurich University Hospital, he released fictitious invoices so that the canton or another client would pay them. To do this, he forged the signature of his superior because he was not allowed to initiate payments on his own.
Construction work was never carried out
However, the work that was invoiced, such as gardening, waterproofing or fire protection, was never carried out. The invoices came from contractors he knew personally. One was a good friend and neighbor, others he had worked with at previous employers. They all come from the cantons of Aargau, Basel-Land and Basel-Stadt.
According to the indictment, the project manager and the contractors then divided the fraudulent money among themselves. According to the indictment, only the friend with the gardening company took part without any financial involvement and turned a blind eye. In return, the main accused helped him with computer problems.
A vacation apartment and a horse
He defrauded the canton of Zurich, where the 52-year-old Swiss national was responsible for a project for the university hospital, of 1.2 million francs. He defrauded a large construction company of around the same amount. Just under half a million for a furniture store in the canton of Aargau, which was building a new site.
He used the money to pay for a house with a swimming pond, a vacation apartment in Davos and a horse, among other things. The prosecution is demanding a prison sentence of three years for fraud and forgery, of which only 10 months are to be served.
He has already served these 10 months in custody. Even if the court follows the prosecution's request, the construction expert will not have to return to prison.
The public prosecutor is demanding conditional prison sentences of between 12 and 18 months for the alleged accomplices. The trial will continue on Wednesday, including the pleas of the defense. The verdict will follow at a later date.
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