The Federal Office of Police (Fedpol) has imposed conditional fines and heavy penalties on seven people in the Postbus subsidy fraud case. The conditions for prison sentences are not met. The penalties are not yet legally binding.
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Penalties were imposed on five people for benefit fraud, the claiming of public benefits not entitled to, and on two people for failing to prevent benefit fraud. This was first reported online by the Swiss tabloid, Blick on Monday.
According to information on the website of the Federal Office of Police, the penalties include conditional fines of between CHF56,000 ($63,300) and CHF420,000 ($474,751) and unconditional fines of between CHF 12,000 and CHF 60,000. Those affected can appeal against the penalty notices.
The PostBus affair first came to light in autumn 2017. The Federal Office of Transport discovered during an audit that PostBus Switzerland had systematically concealed profits in regional passenger transport since 2007 through illegal rebookings in order to obtain government subsidies.
In December 2018 and January 2019, Swiss Post repaid the entire amount of CHF205.3 million to the federal government, cantons and municipalities. In the wake of the affair, all members of the Postbus Board of Directors resigned from their posts. Swiss Post CEO Susanne Ruoff also resigned in June 2018.
Adapted from German by DeepL/amva
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