Keystone
The so-called “warmth ring” process, which cost the then Green City Councilor Matthias Gfeller his office in 2016, will start next Monday at the Winterthur district court. The former director and former chief financial officer of Stadtwerk are accused.
The former Stadtwerk director Markus Sägesser is accused of forging documents in office and disloyal conduct of office, the former head of finance for forging documents in office.
The public prosecutor’s office is requesting conditional fines for both suspects. For Sägesser one of 180 daily rates at 120 francs, for the CFO one of 120 daily rates at 200 francs, both with a probationary period of two years.
deficit hidden
The public prosecutor’s office accuses them of using creative accounting to present the energy company Wärme Frauenfeld AG better financially than was actually the case. Stadtwerk was involved in the Thurgau heating project with 200,000 francs, so bankruptcy should definitely be averted.
The former executives are said to have not posted a claim to the Wärme Frauenfeld for CHF 2.4 million for heat pumps to the “Energy Contracting” cost center, but to the “Stadtwerk Directorate”. The shortfall was not charged to the Thurgau project, but distributed to many municipal utility areas and thus hidden. According to the indictment, this violated accounting standards and was therefore illegal.
“Arbitrarily flouting rules”
In addition, the then Stadtwerk boss Sägesser violated Stadtwerk’s sponsorship rules. He had agreed that Stadtwerk supported a 12-year-old mountain biker with 6,000 francs. In return, the young person gave interested public utility employees a driving technique course.
The youth happened to be the son of the head of energy contracting at the time. However, according to sponsoring guidelines, Stadtwerk does not support individuals. According to the indictment, Sägesser “arbitrarily ignored the rules for an employee and his family”.
Proceedings against Gfeller dropped
In an interview with the “Tages-Anzeiger”, Sägesser described himself as a “pawn victim”. He and the CFO at the time would not have done the special posting alone in private. As usual, the annual accounts were discussed with the head of the department and the financial controller.
The public prosecutor’s office also initiated proceedings against the department head at the time, the Green City Councilor Matthias Gfeller. Gfeller finally announced his resignation in 2016, but was officially exonerated by an investigation. The public prosecutor’s office then discontinued their proceedings against Gfeller.
Warmth Frauenfeld was dissolved
Although Wärme Frauenfeld AG still employs the judiciary, it has been history as a company since 2018. The heating network was dissolved and integrated into the Frauenfeld works.
The city of Winterthur withdrew from operations and lost 1.4 million francs in the process. In addition, the city had to write off its share capital of 200,000 francs. To ensure that a debacle like the Wärmering affair does not happen again, the city council has now issued new guidelines on shareholdings.
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