Trial/Court Several acquittals demanded at fraud trial in Trogen
In a fraud trial in Trogen on Wednesday, the defense lawyer demanded an acquittal for his client in several cases of alleged fraud. According to the indictment, she is alleged to have used foundation funds of over 300,000 francs, in some cases improperly.
21.05.2025, 11:46
21.05.2025, 17:41
SDA
The defendant should be acquitted of several counts of commercial fraud, which the indictment alleges she committed against several foundations. This was stated by the defense lawyer during the trial on Tuesday.
In his view, the indictment lacked key evidence for these allegations. In particular, his client, a 48-year-old woman from Ausserrhoden, had not acted "fraudulently" when making the foundation inquiries.
She had also not used funds improperly in numerous cases. On this point, the defense lawyer also contradicted the public prosecutor's office. According to the defense lawyer, his client's income from foundation funds was also offset by legitimate expenditure.
Defense attorney holds foundations accountable
The public prosecutor's office had also previously stated that it had not been possible for the foundations to verify the information provided by the 48-year-old. As a result, she had unlawfully obtained foundation funds and spent them improperly on her "high standard of living". The public prosecutor had spoken of a "sophisticated web of lies" that the accused had built up in order to obtain the money.
The defense lawyer, however, took the foundations to task. In his view, it was inconclusive why the foundations could not have verified the information provided by the accused. She had not built up a "sophisticated web of lies". According to the defense lawyer, his client's statements could have been easily verified by the foundations.
The main charge in the indictment is multiple commercial fraud. The presumption of innocence applies.
