22.10.2024
White-Collar Crime: Swiss Federal Supreme Court upholds principle of "no punishment without law"
Nater Dallafior successfully defended a member of the board of a Swiss debt collection company against charges of unlawful activities on behalf of a foreign state (Article 271(1) of the Swiss Criminal Code).
The company, acting on behalf of Italian police authorities, sent payment requests and reminders to Swiss residents who had been fined for traffic offences in Italy. These letters informed the vehicle owners that if they failed to pay the fine on their next visit to Italy, they could be subject to enforcement proceedings on the spot. At first and second instance, the Federal Criminal Court held that the letters in question constituted acts of an official nature and found the member of the board guilty of violating Article 271(1) SCC. The Federal Supreme Court upheld Nater Dallafior's appeal and acquitted the client on the grounds that a guilty verdict was incompatible with the principle of legality (nulla poena sine lege). The letters lacked a sufficient connection to enforcement law, and it was not possible to assess without in-depth legal clarification whether the payment requests and reminders should be regarded as direct enforcement of the Italian fine or merely as a continuation of the original (permitted) service of that decision in the form of a reminder. According to the Federal Supreme Court, the lack of certainty of the penalty provision could not be remedied by e-mails from the Federal Office of Justice claiming that the collection of fines on behalf of foreign authorities in Switzerland was illegal.
The client was represented by Patrik Salzmann.