Bribery and orders under the tableSBB construction manager goes on trial for nepotism
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4.2.2025 - 12:05
The case will be discussed in the Federal Criminal Court on Wednesday.
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A former SBB construction manager will stand trial on Wednesday. The reason: he allegedly accepted bribes and awarded contracts to an architect friend.
04.02.2025, 12:05
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A former SBB construction site manager and an architect will stand trial on Wednesday.
The reason: they are alleged to have exchanged bribes and manipulated orders.
The investigation began by chance due to suspicious bookings in the accounts department.
A former construction site manager at SBB is accused by the Office of the Attorney General of having accepted bribes amounting to almost CHF 20,000. In return, Heinz P. allegedly awarded contracts to an architect friend and paid excessive fees.
The trial against the 68-year-old begins tomorrow, Wednesday, at the Federal Criminal Court. The architect Urs S. is also on trial. He is charged with bribery and aiding and abetting dishonest conduct in public office.
S. is 61 years old and comes from the Basel region. He is a respected man, writes the "Aargauer Zeitung". He ran a renowned service club and owned a well-known café in the city.
Discovered by chance
The investigation began because his bookkeeping was presumably too honest. According to the public prosecutor's office, he had payments posted to his SBB buddy's private black money account in his accounting system under the heading "Commissions" and with the note "SBB".
During an inspection, the Federal Tax Administration came across these suspicious cash flows by chance and filed a complaint. And so the proceedings began. The judiciary is now assessing criminal offenses dating back ten years or more.
Communication between Heinz P. and Urs S. took place via P.'s official SBB e-mail address. This enabled the investigators to reconstruct the entire exchange and their actions.
In an e-mail, P. allegedly expressed difficulties in awarding contracts due to new financial regulations. Urs S. is said to have encouraged him to find a solution in order to continue receiving orders, as the newspaper further reports.
Competition locked out
In another message with the subject "Confidential!!!", Heinz P. is said to have given his friend the prices of the competition in order to give him an advantage.
Despite his efforts, Heinz P. was unable to win the contract on his own and it went to the competition. Nevertheless, the architectural firm carried out orders worth CHF 65,000 for SBB over four years.
The indictment shows that Heinz P. was able to decide on contracts worth up to CHF 10,000 himself, although the principle of dual control was actually prescribed.
With their actions, the two men not only outdid the competition. They also allegedly negotiated excessive fees and billed for hours that the office had not even carried out.
Image problem for SBB
The alleged financial loss for SBB is small. The case is above all an image problem for the railroad company. According to the Office of the Attorney General, Heinz P. damaged the public interest. Both defendants deny all allegations, but do not wish to comment on them before the trial. The presumption of innocence applies.
The case of Heinz P. is not the first corruption scandal at SBB. In the past, there have been several incidents that have shaken confidence in the state-owned company. Wolfgang Winter, former head of the SBB subsidiary Elvetino, was convicted of excessive fees and kick-back payments.
Another fraud scheme was set up by a Thurgau building contractor and accomplices in SBB's Infrastructure Division, which cost the railroad company CHF 3.2 million.
The editor wrote this article with the help of AI.