Enlarge image
Ex-banker Vincenz: Maintaining contacts in strip clubs
Photo: ARND WIEGMANN / REUTERS
The former head of Switzerland's third largest banking group, Raiffeisen, has been found guilty in a sensational economic trial.
The Zurich District Court partly followed the prosecutor's office when it announced its verdict on Wednesday, which had accused Pierin Vincenz of multiple embezzlement, multiple unfaithful business dealings and forgery of documents.
On other counts he was acquitted.
Vincenz is sentenced to three years and nine months in prison.
His business partner Beat Stocker, ex-head of the credit card company Aduno (today Viseca), was sentenced to four years in prison for fraud.
There were also fines.
Both can appeal.
The public prosecutor had accused the two of secretly holding shares in companies that were then sold to their employers at their instigation.
They would have enriched themselves by millions.
Raiffeisen's lawyer denounced the "considerable criminal energy of the accused".
From 1999 to 2015, Vincenz was Managing Director of Raiffeisen-Genossenschaft, the third largest Swiss banking group after UBS and Credit Suisse.
He was arrested in 2018 and spent weeks in custody.
During the investigation, serious oversight deficiencies were uncovered at Raiffeisen: numerous dubious expense reports came to light.
With more than 100 visits to cabarets and strip clubs with names like "Crazy Paradise" and "Pussy Cat", Vincenz had charged almost 200,000 francs for maintaining business relationships.
The expenses had been approved.
Vincenz and Stocker's defense attorneys had rejected all allegations.
What the prosecution presented as splitting ill-gotten gains were actually loans.
Vincenz' lawyer referred to Raiffeisen's successes in growth and profit under his client's leadership.
Vincenz admitted mistakes on the last day of the trial, but asked for an acquittal.
His concern has always been to ensure that Raiffeisen and its holdings develop well.
mike/dpa