The trial of former Raiffeisen bank boss Pierin Vincenz and his co-defendants continued on Tuesday. During this sixth day of hearings, the defense once again attacked the arguments of the Public Prosecutor, which it considers to be devoid of evidence.
“Nonsense”, “absurd”, “almost funny”: the qualifiers devaluing certain passages of the indictment have rocketed, once again. Tuesday, they came out of the mouths of the lawyers of two founders of the Investnet company, sold a few years ago to the Raiffeisen bank.
In their pleadings, they disputed that the two co-defendants sealed a pact with Pierin Vincenz and the other main defendant Beat Stocker so that the latter could pocket millions of francs as secret shareholders of Investnet, during its acquisition by Raiffeisen. It is a “hypothesis without proof” moreover, estimated one of the two lawyers, recalling the difficult relations of his client with the two main defendants.
Vincenz and Stocker not bribed
The other lawyer pointed out that his client had warned Raiffeisen of a possible conflict of interest regarding Beat Stocker. Furthermore, he would not have been aware of Pierin Vincenz’s participation in Investnet.
The defender also refuted any bribery of the Vincenz / Stocker duo by the two founders of the company, given that its takeover was decided by several committees within Raiffeisen and not by Pierin Vincenz alone. In addition, the bank pointed out that the takeover of Investnet did not cause it any direct financial damage.
The two lawyers demanded the acquittal of their clients. One of them even requested a procedure classification, his 68-year-old client suffering from an irreversible neurological disease.
End of trial in two weeks
Wednesday, the arguments of the defense will end with that of the lawyer of the seventh and last defendant. Then, the Public Prosecutor will be able to speak again.
In two weeks, the defense lawyers will be able to respond during the last two days of the trial. The presiding judge imposed a maximum speaking time on the parties.
Six years required against Vincenz and Stocker
The prosecution accuses Pierin Vincenz and Beat Stocker, a former boss of Aduno, of having secret stakes in companies. They then allegedly had these companies bought by Raiffeisen or Aduno and thus collected illegal profits.
The prosecutor also accuses the two main defendants of having financed private expenses of several hundred thousand francs through expense reports. In total, the criminal sum alleged against Pierin Vincenz is 9 million francs and 16 million for Beat Stocker.
The Public Ministry accuses the two men of fraud by profession, unfair management, forgery in titles and passive corruption. He requested six years in prison against them and suspended or partially suspended monetary sentences against the five co-defendants.
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