Swiss perspectives in 10 languages

Swiss charge prominent businessman with insider trading and bribery

logo of finma supervisory authority
Investigations began after FINMA, the Swiss financial watchdog, raised suspicions. Keystone / Peter Klaunzer

The Swiss Attorney General has filed an indictment against two people, including well-known businessman Hans Ziegler, over charges of bribery, insider trading and industrial espionage.

Criminal proceedings were launched against Ziegler in April 2016, after the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) raised suspicions of insider trading. The federal prosecutor extended its investigation a year later to a second person, as well as widening the accusations to include bribery and industrial espionage.

The federal prosecutor allegesExternal link that between the end of 2013 and November 2016, Ziegler – as a member of the board of a company – disclosed trade secrets to the second accused several times and without authorisation. This included information related to the sale of a foreign subsidiary to a potential foreign buyer, whom the second accused was advising at the time.

Ziegler is alleged to have demanded CHF150,000 ($164,800) in exchange for this information. The payment was eventually made to a company belonging to Ziegler. 

The indictment further claims that Ziegler, who was a member of the board of four listed companies and a senior adviser to two consulting firms, exploited insider information in connection with commercial transactions involving securities from a total of eleven companies. This resulted in a profit of CHF2 million for Ziegler and for two legal entities with which he is associated.

The names of the second accused and the companies involved were not disclosed. 

Ziegler has been a well-known figure in Swiss industry for the last few decades. He has held board positions at several companies including Charles Vögele, Elma Electronic, Schlatter Holding and Swisslog, which was sold to the German robotics group Kuka.

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR