The district court of Zurich has delayed the date of a verdict by a month to ensure that a suspect sells his house. With the sale of the house, the accused can pay back embezzled funds to his victims.
The 72-year-old deducted a total of 316,000 francs from the deputy’s account within three and a half years.
He was considered an honorable citizen all his life, was the treasurer of a Zurich neighborhood association for many years and was appointed by the Kesb as a representative for the asset management of an elderly man: However, within three and a half years, between January 2016 and May 2019, the 72-year-old financial expert A total of 316,000 francs was deducted from the account of the person being deceased. He also reduced the coffers of the neighborhood association by 22,220 francs. The man has now been sentenced to a conditional prison sentence of 24 months by the Zurich District Court.
The same penalty had already been applied for in an abbreviated procedure that had burst a year and a half ago. At the time, the court had decided that the penalty was too severe and that the question of paying off the debt was still unresolved. Therefore, the case was referred back to the public prosecutor’s office.
The new trial in the ordinary procedure then took place on May 5th. However, the district court delayed the verdict because the accused assured that he would settle his debts and pay the victims with the proceeds from the sale of a property in Aargau. At the time of the main hearing, the deal was still pending, but the accused and his lawyer promised that the house would be sold within two or three weeks.
False receipts fabricated on the PC
The criminal activities came to light after the man who was being protected died. According to the indictment, the accused also created 23 untrue, totally forged bills and receipts on his PC with alleged clearance, transport and cleaning costs in order to partially cover up his outflow of money as an assistant. He signed under an assumed name as the alleged owner of a moving and cleaning company. The individual amounts ranged from 300 to 5,000 francs, totaling over 44,000 francs. The embezzlement as treasurer of the district association also took place in small tranches over a period of two and a half years.
In court, the 72-year-old was fully confessed and repentant. The crimes happened in an emergency situation. They are also incomprehensible to him and bear no relation to his philosophy of life in his earlier professional life. In the future he will no longer hold offices and no longer manage any assets. Therefore there is no risk of repetition.
«Helplessness perfidiously exploited»
The public prosecutor applied for a new prison sentence of 36 months for multiple embezzlement and multiple forgery of documents. 12 months to complete. The 72-year-old had “perfidiously exploited the helplessness of his ward”. The prosecutor criticized that the man had been promising the sale of the house for over a year, but nothing happened.
The sister of the deceased, who appeared as a private prosecutor at the court hearing, agreed to a slightly reduced amount of 300,000 francs in damages and 5,000 francs in satisfaction, but demanded that the accused finally hand over the urn of the deceased to her, which never happens be.
The defense pleaded for a conditional prison sentence of 22 months. To mitigate the sentence, it should be taken into account that the victim did not notice anything about the crime during his lifetime. The sale of the house was delayed because the property was co-owned by a brother of the accused. There were differences between the brothers. The brother tried to buy the other part of the house himself “for a sandwich”. But the differences have now been resolved.
Sale of the house certified
The promise was kept: On Friday, the court was in possession of certified copies of the purchase contract and a promise to pay from the bank. So it decided to lift the land register block on the accused’s half co-ownership of the property in Aargau. The accused was obliged to submit a claim for compensation of 332,500 to the state. CHF 305,000 of this will go to the private prosecutor, CHF 22,220 to the neighborhood association, and CHF 5,280 to cover the costs of the proceedings.
The presiding judge stated that the behavior of the accused as a support to a helpless person was particularly reprehensible. On the other hand, it is a one-off case of successful redress. A prison sentence of 40 months would actually be appropriate for the components of the crime. “Decisive for the match” is the behavior of the accused in the night. There is a 10-month deduction for his confession, which facilitated the investigation, and another 10 months for active remorse in the form of reparation. In addition, there are 4 months due to lighter previous convictions. The 24 months are conditional, with an extended probationary period of 4 years.
After the verdict, the accused politely thanked the court and promised not to be guilty of anything more in the next four years. This caused laughter in the courtroom, whereupon he stated that he would no longer be punishable after that. He also promised to meet with the deceased’s sister. As their representative said on the sidelines of the process, the urn has not yet been handed over.
Judgment DG220014 of June 3, 2022, not yet final.