The almost perfect fraud against the SBB (Swiss Press Text 2014, by Rahel Guggisberg) - Swiss Press Award

Berner Zeitung

Rahel Guggisberg

In March, the SBB provided only scant information about the proceedings currently pending before the Federal Prosecutor's Office: its Infrastructure Division had fallen victim to a multi-million-euro fraud. As research by this newspaper has now revealed, the accused have set up a nearly perfect fraud scheme. Two senior executives submitted fictitious invoices to the SBB Infrastructure Department for private purchases they had arranged through their Thurgau construction company. These invoices related to SBB construction sites where the construction company was working. The company had a long-standing relationship of trust with the SBB. Accomplices at the SBB then signed the invoices and initiated payments to the construction company. Despite internal controls, the schemes remained undetected for years. They only came to light after one of the accused sold his company to the railway engineering company Rhomberg. The SBB then dismissed the accomplices who had been working for them. SBB spokeswoman Franziska Frey denies the suspicion that there are more bodies in the SBB basement: "We are not aware of a similar case."