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- The Federal Supreme Court had to judge the case of a foreigner who had received social assistance in Switzerland for years. In 2017 he withdrew his pension fund assets and concealed this from the authorities.
- He was paid 18,000 francs, which the authorities later determined. He was fined and expelled from the country for five years.
- In this case, the Federal Supreme Court does not consider the expulsion from the state to be proportionate.
The receipt of the pension fund money in 2017 would have had an impact on whether the man would have continued to receive social assistance and how much. Six months later, the authorities noticed that the man had withdrawn the money and initiated proceedings against him. The district court later fined him and expelled him from the country for five years.
The High Court upheld the guilty verdict and the expulsion from the country. On the other hand, the over 60-year-old lodged a complaint – and now the Federal Supreme Court has the right to do so. The highest court assessed the offense as a minor case, and in such a case the expulsion was not proportionate.
3000 francs is an easy case
In his verdict, the judges in Lausanne also set the thresholds for what is to be considered a minor case of abusive receipt of social assistance benefits: if the amount of the offense is a maximum of 3,000 francs, it is automatically a minor case. With a sum of more than 36,000 francs, however, a minor case must be ruled out in principle. And those cases in between would have to be examined individually, according to the federal court.
For migration law expert Valerio Priuli from the Zurich University of Applied Sciences ZHAW, this is conclusive and in line with the deportation initiative: “The initiative itself tends to only provide for serious crimes that should lead to deportation. One cannot therefore say that the deportation initiative is being watered down.”
«People who cheat the state have to leave the country»
However, the SVP, the originator of the deportation initiative, sees it completely differently. National Councilor Gregor Rutz is outraged: “I find it disturbing that it is higher, five-digit amounts that are judged to be a ‘slight case’. A line has to be drawn here. Such people who cheat the state must leave the country. Otherwise we’re attracting the wrong kind of clientele.”
The reactions show that even after the most recent ruling from Lausanne, the deportation of criminal foreigners remains a hot topic.