Swiss 'Banker of the Year' found guilty in corruption trial

[ZURICH] Swiss judges on Wednesday sentenced former Raiffeisen Switzerland chief executive Pierin Vincenz to 45 months' jail for fraud and other counts in a trial that gripped the nation with allegations of fraudulent deals and huge strip-club bills.

In one of the country's highest-profile corporate crime trials in decades, Zurich's district court convicted Vincenz - previously named Swiss Banker of the Year - on several counts of profiting through illicit deals while he was chief executive of the cooperative lender; he was also found not guilty on some charges, and can appeal the verdict.

All 7 defendants in the case had denied the allegations against them.

Prosecutors were seeking nearly 70 million Swiss francs (S$102.3 million) in total in assets from the 7, as well as pursuing financial penalties and prison sentences ranging from 2 to 6 years for all but one of them.

The case centred around conflicts of interest on deals between a number of firms in which Vincenz and another defendant were involved. Both men were also accused of forgery.

The trial, which was moved from a courthouse to Zurich's Volkshaus theatre on account of the intense public interest, had also featured the 65-year-old's alleged misuse of corporate expenses.

Vincenz told the court when the hearing began in January that a near 200,000 Swiss franc expenses bill for strip-club visits was largely business-related; a 700 franc dinner with a woman he met on dating app Tinder was justified because he was considering her for a real estate job.

Other defendants were accused of anti-competitive behaviour and acting as accessories on the corporate deals, through which, prosecutors alleged, they made millions.