Investigation partly clears former Lucerne councillor Guido Graf

A formal investigation has partly confirmed allegations against former Lucerne government councillor Guido Graf but found no evidence of financial misconduct or excessive expenses, Swiss public broadcaster SRF reported.

The allegations concerned Graf’s role as chairman of the board of the Social Insurance Centre for Economic Affairs, Labour and Social Affairs, known as WAS. The former health director was accused of seriously breaching corporate governance rules by steering contracts to himself, setting and approving his own compensation, and claiming his commute and other expenses as costs. The cantonal parliament’s financial control body raised the allegations. A climate of fear was also alleged to have existed at WAS.

The Lucerne government said the investigation confirmed some of the accusations. It identified shortcomings within the former board in transparency, information sharing, handling criticism, leadership principles and several aspects of public corporate governance.

However, the report found no indications of abusive or excessive compensation for meetings or expenses. In response, the government said it intends to work more closely with the board in future and strengthen reporting and oversight.

Graf said he took the criticism of the board’s working methods and inadequately regulated processes seriously. Improvements should be implemented where necessary, he said. At the same time, he stressed that the investigation had not confirmed the serious personal allegations against him on key points. It had found neither financial misconduct nor a climate of fear created by him, he said.

The case is not fully closed. A criminal complaint filed by the cantonal parliament’s Supervisory and Control Commission remains pending in connection with the founding of WAS Immobilien AG. That separate proceeding concerns a suspected abuse of office.