More than five years ago, a young Vaudois from the Côte found a bag filled with thousands of gold coins. Vaud justice allowed him to keep only… 19.
© Vanessa Cardoso/24 hours
The young man who had found more than 5000 gold coins practically had to return them all.
In November 2016, a young man discovered a real war chest on a construction site in Saint-Prex. This then consisted of 5,676 gold coins for a value of around 1.3 million francs. The Vaudois made “a mistake” by procrastinating two days before handing over the entire loot to the Morges police. This attitude, again manifested during the various hearings before the courts, did not work in his favor, until the rejection of his appeal before the Civil Court of the canton of Vaud.
“The justice of the peace had admitted that I would be entitled to the reward provided for in a “found object”, recalls the young man. In such a case, a 10% reward is usually granted. An argument swept away by the Court of Appeal. “The appellant took possession of things lost illicitly since he went without any authorization to this plot, not benefiting from any right of way”, thus excluding any gratuity apart from the 19 pieces he was possible to see from outside the property concerned. According to “24 hours», which cites the recitals of the judgment, the young man chose not to appeal to the Federal Court.