Go! Switzerland!.. They are prosecuting executives who "killed' Swissair

The Swiss loved that airline, and were very proud of it, and since it "died" 5 years ago, the public would NOT just "move on-look forward". They PROSECUTED the execs who ruined it..

I wish we did the same. It's obscene how we allow/condone/glorify the corporate raiders in this country. Just think of all the once-viable companies that thrived for decades and decades, suporting families with good jobs, making a good product/service, and once gobbled up, they just went belly-up and the assets went into some pretty deep pockets as those execs went on to the "next-deal"

Even if their trials end with a less-than-satisfactory result, they will at least have the satisfaction of dragging these thieves through the public and getting to copnfront them.

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9. March 2007, Swissinfo

http://www.nzz.ch/2007/03/09/eng/article7599460.html



Swissair trial leaves questions open

The trial of 19 former Swissair managers and advisors, accused of bringing down the airline with criminal malpractice, is drawing to an inconclusive close.



Observers are unconvinced that that judges will meet all the prosecutor's demands for prison sentences and fines, including a six:month term for Mario Corti. The former chief executive's reputation was enhanced by a fighting display. The 19 defendants in Switzerland's largest corporate trial all denied charges that included damaging creditors, mismanagement, making false business statements and forging documents.

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Emotional response

The grounding of Switzerland's national airline on October 2, 2001, generated emotional turmoil in the country and left a bitter taste in the mouth of many shareholders and staff who lost money and jobs. The trial, held five years after Swissair's demise, was designed to hold executives, board members and outside consultants to account for their actions.

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"It was an extraordinary speech about justice, honour and his pride in Swissair. At the end the whole hall broke out into applause, Corti was crying and even the most hard-boiled journalists were fighting back the tears," Seibt said.

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"Some of the most powerful, dynamic and prominent figures in Switzerland in the 1990s were reduced to silence even though the prosecution was weak. That in itself was a punishment for the biggest scandal in Swiss economic history," he said.

The judges will now go over the evidence presented in court before announcing their verdict and possible sentences at a later unspecified date.

Matthias Mölloney, Swissair's head of personnel at the time of the crisis, thinks that sentencing defendants to prison will send out the wrong message.

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