Prosecutors seek six-year sentence for former SBB manager
Tuesday 27th October 2026 on 17:45 in
Switzerland
Switzerland’s Federal Prosecutor’s Office has asked for a six-year and five-month prison sentence for a former employee of railway company SBB, accused of defrauding it of about 8.7 million Swiss francs over several years. The trial began on Tuesday at the Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona, SRF reported.
Prosecutors say the 54-year-old Swiss man devised the scheme and carried it out with help from other people. He told the court he regretted his actions, saying: “If I could, I would undo everything.”
He is accused of multiple counts of mismanagement, commercial fraud, aggravated money laundering and forgery. A banned folding knife found at his home also led to a charge under the weapons law. Four other defendants are accused of aiding mismanagement and commercial fraud.
According to the indictment, the man joined SBB at 23 and became a department head in 2019. Prosecutors say he began developing the fraud scheme in September 2007, bringing in a longtime friend whose company issued fictitious invoices to SBB. Two people with other companies later joined the arrangement, and the accused’s sister set up two more companies in late 2010.
SBB received no services or materials in return for the invoices, prosecutors say. The scheme went undetected for years because the accused could both register a need for goods and place an order in SBB’s system, despite not working in procurement.
SBB filed a criminal complaint in September 2024. The accused was arrested just over two months later and held in pre-trial detention for two months. Because of the 15-year statute of limitations, only alleged offences committed from April 1, 2011, can be prosecuted, reducing the claimed loss to about five million francs. SBB is seeking that amount as a private claimant.
Prosecutors say the former employee, who was dismissed without notice, used the money to finance a house in the canton of Solothurn, another in Florida, numerous cars and an expensive lifestyle. The vehicles included a Ford Mustang Shelby, two Porsches and a Lamborghini that cost almost 400,000 francs. The money also went towards a collection of weapons.