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Five transport company employees have to go to criminal court. They are said to have defrauded the state of 2 million.
What happened? The Lucerne public prosecutor’s office has charged five – some of them former – management employees of the Lucerne transport company. They have to answer before the criminal court for, among other things, multiple counts of fraud. The Lucerne VBL transport company operates various bus routes in the city of Lucerne and the surrounding area.
What is the accusation? The five cadres are said to have fraudulently obtained funds. Specifically, they deliberately provided false information in 2018 and 2019 in order to receive the higher subsidy money. This is the accusation of the public prosecutor. The amount of the offense amounts to 2.1 million francs, only part of which was actually paid out to the VBL. The VBL has now paid the money back.
Who are the defendants? All five people were or are active in the VBL squad. Two people are still working in the company, one person has since changed jobs and two people are retired. Among the latter is the then VBL director Norbert Schmassmann. The defendants are presumed innocent.
Who are the injured parties? The subsidies were paid out by the Federal Office of Transport BAV and the Lucerne Transport Association VVL. These order the public transport offer in the city of Lucerne. It was also the BAV and the VVL – along with a private individual – who filed a complaint against unknown persons and thus initiated criminal proceedings by the public prosecutor’s office.
Legend:
Keystone/Urs Flüeler
What’s next? The five people have to answer before the criminal court. They face conditional prison sentences. The trial date has not yet been set.
Wasn’t there something else? The VBL has already been in the headlines because of possible subsidy fraud. A good five years ago, the BAV and VVL accused the transport companies of illegally receiving up to 16 million francs from 2011 to 2017. Negotiations regarding repayments are currently underway. The charges against the five cadres are related to this case, although they concern the years 2018 and 2019. To what extent the previous years play a role, the public prosecutor’s office only wants to comment on this in court.