That may be "members of a criminal organization" guilty of a huge fraud at the VAT in Italy, creation of invoices or other documents to justify transactions non-existent ", and of laundering more than 10 million euros in the canton Italian-speaking Ticino ? Six months suspended.
This is the sentence that comes to impose, the federal prosecutor Sergio Mastroianni, two brothers, Filippo and Matteo Magnone, assisted incidentally by their dad, Paolo Magnone. And these prominent members of the Camorra, the mafia of naples, have even escaped a trial, always harmful for the reputation of the accused. They have received their convictions by post, via judicial order.
offenders "co-operative"
To justify the punishments as ridiculous, the public ministry of the Confederation emphasizes the "long time" and "the cooperative attitude" of the offender. In general, the packages are held abroad, the Swiss only used to launder money that has not been hijacked on its territory. It feels so not truly injured.
Certainly, since the October 10, 1997, there is a federal law on anti-money laundering (AML) that request to the financial intermediaries to be vigilant about the source of the funds. But to convict a banker, this is a mess. As a result, a trust company in the canton Ticino, who helped the brothers Magnone to wash the dirty money of the Camorra, has been acquitted by the federal criminal Court (TPF)... because the facts were prescribed.
Ten million confiscated
These stories repetitive laundering would pass under the radar if they were unearthed by the site Gotham City, specializing in the news business " by judicial sources ". It teaches us that if the brothers Magnone fare well at the criminal level, the swiss justice on the other hand, hand-made, low on their savings. Filippo was confiscated 1.3 million swiss francs (1.2 million euros) on its bank accounts, a further 1.6 million francs (1.47 million euros) in cash. And as a bonus, twenty large diamonds. As for his brother Matteo, he lost 7 million swiss francs (6.4 million euros) in the transaction. Remains to be seen whether the two brothers will then have to be accountable to the mafia.
Read also : Switzerland 5-month suspended prison sentence for having laundered $ 35 million
The investigation showed that the Camorra is enriched also by lending money to Italian entrepreneurs indebted to the usurious rates that could reach... 40 %. The recovered funds were then transferred to Switzerland (and sometimes Hungary). With this story, we realize once again that language and culture play a major role in the business of money laundering. If the great majority of Italians planquent their savings, in Lugano, in the canton of Ticino, the French preferring Geneva, and German, Zurich. As for the Belgians, they are divided on the choice of the bankers, the Walloons, French-speaking, preferring the City of Calvin, the Flemish, the institutions of the lake of Zurich.
