Many Swiss media are questioning the sale of valuable land to a large Chinese corporation, which was secretly carried out by the city council – and are alienated. Exactly to China, which spies and nests everywhere! 20 Minutes headlined: “Mayor secretly sells million-dollar property to Chinese”.
Then last Friday Mayor Martin Stöckling shared his view of the ominous business in the Linth newspaper. He said the city council didn’t have to subject the land sale to a popular referendum. (They have nothing to say about the deal.)
Politically the stupidest
Maybe Stöckling is right, maybe not, see box below. But to conclude a land sale in secret, to keep it hidden for 22 months, to only publish it when the media asks and at the same time to undermine a people’s right is about the stupidest thing a government can do politically.
Especially since the business smells bad all around. Linth24 has therefore asked the city council, in accordance with the Public Information Act, to disclose files and answer questions. It is about the following topics:
Who is the third party?
Im contract of sale from April 21, 2021 between the city and SinoSwiss, important points have been blacked out. Who is the third party? Even someone making money on the deal? In the interests of the public, the contract must be disclosed without redacting immediately.
For information on why the city council kept the deal secret for almost 2 years, Stöckling told TVO: The city did not inform about the land sale because of Linth24’s request, but because they had waited for certainty about the building permit from the Chinese until then.
The fact that this – after 22 months – coincided exactly with the question e-mail from Linth24 is a miracle. Who believes it… Remember the parasols (that have not disappeared), the Götti hedge, the (not) broken Lido swimming pool, the untruth about the demolition of the ice rink, etc.
Cooperation China and city
The city’s information on the China deal is also surprising in other ways. After the Linth24 request, the Chinese SinoSwiss sent an email on February 21, 2023 at 10:02 a.m. The city one (!) minute later, at 10:03 am.
The city council is asked: who is coordinating this fraternal cooperation between China and the city?
It gets just as scary with the land sale contract with Article 8. In it, the city undertakes “to submit all necessary building application documents (from the Chinese) to sign without delay».
In this city, has anyone who wants to build ever received such a brisk, factually contractually fixed building commitment?
Who is the “company”?
According to Mayor Stöckling, “a company” researched Chinese buyers for the city. Who was that? what came out These files are also to be disclosed. Just like the logs of the research that the city apparently did itself on the China group.
The application by SinoSwiss to purchase land must also be disclosed. According to the city administration, a land purchase always requires a request from the interested party. One is curious about that of the China company.
False statement about building law
Stöckling said several times last week that the Chinese “do not know the building law,” which is why the publicly owned land was sold to the Chinese. However, Stöckling’s statement is wrong. In China there is only the right to build.
The city council must disclose why, as a body, it agreed to the sale of land and did not demand building rights.
Also interested who when estimated the price of land in Schachen at 700 francs per m², while the land is at least double that.
