The Swiss banking sector has been rocked by another scandal after one of its former big bosses was jailed for claiming nearly 200,000 Swiss francs (£165,000) in expenses to cover his visits to strip clubs. tease.
Pierin Vincenz, the former managing director of Raiffeisen Switzerland, made illegal gains during his 15-year tenure by cashing in 7.8 million francs in side deals and claiming illegal expenses, including a 202 tab 000 francs in a series of cabarets and strip clubs, prosecutors told the court.
Earlier this year, Vincenz, who has already won the ‘Banker of the Year’ award, told the Zurich District Court that his expense bill for visits to strip clubs was mostly business-related.
The 65-year-old also said a 700-franc dinner he had with a woman he met on the dating app Tinder was justified because he considered her for a job, and that he trip to Australia had taken place because he needed to examine the country’s treasury. machinery.
The court heard that the bills he paid included nearly 4,000 francs for the repair of a hotel room at the five-star Park Hyatt in Zurich which had been damaged during a “huge dispute” he had with a strip club dancer he was dating.
It is one of the most high-profile corporate crime trials ever held in Switzerland, with Vincenz being one of seven defendants who have all denied the charges against them. Prosecutors were claiming 70 million francs in total assets from the seven.
Vincenz was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison on Wednesday after being found guilty of multiple counts, including embezzlement, fraud and falsification of documents. He was also ordered to pay a fine of 840,000 francs and to pay nearly 1.6 million francs in damages to compensate the companies in which he was involved.
He has always denied the charges and his lawyer told the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper that the decision is “wrong” and will be appealed.
The case is the latest scandal to hit the Swiss banking sector as one of its biggest banks, Credit Suisse, reels from crisis to crisis.
He faced public embarrassment in 2019 when one of his top bankers was chased through the streets of Zurich by spies he hired to track him after he left for rival UBS, a scandal that refused to disappear after other surveillance cases emerged.
It has since been rocked by its ties to the collapsed financial firm of Lex Greensill and the implosion of US hedge fund Archegos Capital Management as well as a huge data leak involving new charges against its clients and the shock exit of its chairman. Antonio Horta-Osorio after he was found guilty of breaking Covid rules to watch tennis at Wimbledon.
Raiffeisen Switzerland has been contacted for comments.
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Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
This notice was published: 2022-04-13 12:35:25
