There is a lot at stake for Pierin Vincenz.

The Zurich public prosecutor wants to put the former head of the Swiss banking group Raiffeisen behind bars for six years.

Nevertheless, Vincenz hardly showed any tension when he entered the Volkshaus in Zurich on Tuesday morning.

It was the first day of the trial in the eagerly awaited fraud case against the former flagship banker.

He is accused of personally enriching himself through covert company transactions and thus having damaged his employer Raiffeisen by many millions.

In addition, the public prosecutor charged him with excessive expenses.

John Knight

Correspondent for politics and economy in Switzerland.

  • Follow I follow

Vincenz had not appeared in public since the end of his more than three-month custody in June 2018. A storm of flashbulbs awaited him in front of the Volkshaus, an event center to which the hearing had to be moved due to lack of space due to the great public interest. Sixty journalists have been accredited for the trial, which also provides the tabloids with plenty of headlines simply because of the escapades of the main defendant in the red-light district. On dozens of pages, the indictment lists how much expense money the former head of the banking group squandered in establishments such as the King's Club and Red Lips in Zurich or the Pussy Cat and Crazy Paradise in Geneva. He felt most comfortable in the King's Club.There, the invoices paid by company credit card (and signed by the Chairman of the Board of Directors) totaled more than 90,000 francs.

Tanned and smiling calmly, the top buttons of his white shirt unbuttoned, Vincenz entered the foyer of the theater that had been prepared for the trial. There he met the presiding judge Sebastian Aeppli for the first time, who was enthroned at a table with a white tablecloth on the stage of the hall. After an hour-long delay due to various requests from the ranks of the defenders, the question and answer session began late Tuesday afternoon. Vincenz said that some of the lawyer's bills had been sent to Raiffeisen by mistake by the law firm. It was an accident that the bank also took over the costs of demolishing a hotel room that Vincenz had moved into with a dancer. It was a private bill. However, the expenses in clubs and bars were justified by business.After the meal, business talks were continued there in smaller groups. "Did you drink beer or champagne?" Aeppli asked. That was very different, replied Vincenz. He repeatedly invited business people to win them over to the company's business. "I was on the road day and night for Raiffeisen." He paid most of the expenses with a company credit card.

Vincenz justified the trips abroad to New York, Dubai, Australia and several other countries with the fact that Raiffeisen needed contacts with international banks to refinance the mortgage business.

But the judge replied that there were no business appointments listed for his trip to New York over the weekend.

But such things had happened, replied Vincenz.

It was a mistake that Raiffeisen paid 7,200 francs for his partner's flight to Dubai.

He wants to pay that back.

He explained his almost 30,000 franc flight with a private jet from Tenerife to Switzerland with urgent business reasons: he had to take part in the 100-year celebration of a Raiffeisen bank.

Aeppli also asked about the controversial company transactions.

He wanted to know why Vincenz had secretly invested in Commtrain together with his business partner and co-defendant Beat Stocker before the company was taken over by the payment processor Aduno, in which Raiffeisen had a stake.

"Why wasn't that made transparent?" Vincenz's answer: "I'm also asking myself that today, I was inexperienced."

Overall, the two allegedly pocketed 25 million francs through secret advance commitments to start-ups that were later bought by Raiffeisen or Aduno.

Vincenz protested his innocence.