Bill piles up for Swiss defence contractor fraud probe

The costs of an investigation into Swiss state-owned defense company Ruag over dubious tank have reached a "double-digit million sum", according to the company’s chair. +Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox In February, new reports from the Federal Audit Office revealed the extent of irregularities at RUAG in which alleged cases of fraud spanned a ten-year period. A former senior employee is accused of pilfering money. Furthermore, 2,500 spare parts for tanks belonging to the army disappeared from a Ruag warehouse. Due to suspected fraud surrounding the purchase of 100 Leopard 1 tanks in Italy, the Ruag Board of Directors commissioned an external investigation to the law firm Niederer Kraft Frey in August 2023. Now, Ruag chair Jürg Rötheli has confirmed the cost of the ongoing two-year investigation to Swiss public broadcaster SRF. “But we have to put that into perspective with the amount of damage, which is also very high,” he said. According to research by ...