Four indicted in federal IT corruption case

The Attorney General of Switzerland is bringing charges against four people in the bribery affair involving IT contracts with the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO).

Among the four are three entrepreneurs as well as a former SECO employee in charge of procurement, announced the attorney general’s office in a statement on Tuesday.

Specifically, they have been charged with bribery (active and passive) in relation to awarding several hundred SECO IT contracts worth a total of CHF99 million ($98.9 million).

The SECO employee is accused of giving out contracts worth millions of francs without a public bidding process for IT projects, as well as accepting money and other favours worth over CHF1.7 million over a ten-year period. The entrepreneurs are accused of criminal mismanagement and bribery.

The scandal was brought to light in 2014 by investigative journalists working for the Tages-Anzeiger and Der Bund newspapers. The case now goes to trial at the Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona.