Dubious iron layers – insights into the system
Stroers, recruited in criminal structures: to save themselves, the construction company closed a kind of pact with the devil
In the iron layer industry on the building there is ruinous competition, fueled by criminals. A procedure in the canton of Lucerne shows terrifying methods and relationships.
The Lucerne debt enforcement officer had a request from the Federal Customs Administration over CHF 205,000 for unpaid heavy traffic levies. The debtor was a company working in the car industry. Their only partner A. was published in the office for the debt enforcement officer in June 2014.
The Italian citizen A. gave, apparently frankly, to record: The company has no rooms, no real estate or mobile, no company vehicle, no goods camps, no accounts, no bank or post credit. So nothing about it. The officer closed the report with the sentence: « Furthermore, Mr. A. said that the company was never active. »
A leasing company that generated over CHF 200,000 of heavy traffic taxes, but it was supposedly never active?
In any case, there was none there. The customs administration received a loss note.
Mr. A. was active as a straw man and company killer. He had just taken over the leasing company from a Turkish citizen who wanted to get rid of it without standing for the debts. It was probably also a straw man.
The madness has system and is widespread.
Exactly at the same time, Mr. A. was also used as a straw man for an established Lucerne iron layer. It had increasingly economic difficulties in an industry in which undeclared work and wage dumping had found their way into. The company boss was still trying to draw politics aware of the grievances, but without success.
In 2012, he made the decision with a Zurich business advisor to raise a cunning fraud system. With the help or tolerance of other Swiss actors such as trustees, notaries, auditors.
Countless details on this case shows a meticulous indictment of the Lucerne public prosecutor. She brought the main responsible people to court at the end of last year. The company boss, the economic advisor and a trustee.
In August 2014, Strohmann A. took over one of a total of 27 Eisenleger-GmbHs, which was founded by the Lucerne company from 2012 to keep the fraud vehicles going. In principle, it was that the iron layer company continued to work as before-but drastically reduced expenses such as taxes and social security contributions. Because officially the iron laying company was now only a project management company.
15 strokes of 18 cantons used
The approximately 100 iron layers, which were previously employed at the traditional company, were outsourced to “independent” subcontractors in groups from 2012 until the judiciary intervened in 2018. But only for appearance, because these 27 subcontractors were mere camouflage vehicles of the Lucerne Eisenleger-Firm. In fact, she continued to lead the 100 iron layers herself, also paid for her wages.
The 27 Tarnvehikel were distributed to 18 cantons, with the help of 15 strans such as Mr. A., who played the roles of the shareholders and managing directors. In order to make the opposite of the authorities plausible, a Lucerne trustee provided false documents such as pay slips and workers’ confirmations.
According to the indictment, the fraudulent system was part of the fact that the camouflage companies were specifically sent to over -indebtedness. After about two years they went bankrupt or were liquidated by the Commercial Register Office, leaving debt mountains. The iron laying company replaced them with new fake vehicles.
« Everyone knew that nobody was doing anything. »
In the few years, she saved a good 12 million of social security contributions: a wage amount of 47 million was not reported. According to the indictment, the 27 camouflage vehicles left at least 6 million francs on outputs.
Thanks to the fraud on the market, the iron layer company was able to continue to deal and pay for its 100 mostly foreign iron layers. It was active for large construction companies, on public construction sites and private individuals, in building and civil engineering. « Everyone knew, but nobody did something, » says an insider.
But it was a kind of pact with the devil that the iron layer came in. Some of their strans were also active for other fraud. Some had already put dozens of companies in the sand. They belonged to a well -rehearsed system that has long been wearing trains of a criminal organization. That does not shy away from violence either.
Cover to the Italian mafia and to Balkan clans
One of the straw men, a Kosovare, was active in three camouflage companies from the Lucerne. He had completed several competitions before. In the area of reinforcements, but also with slot machines. Years ago there was a mysterious murder in his iron layer milieu in the canton of Bern, which has not yet been clarified.
Another straw man is active in a dubious environment of lawyers and trustees who have clear references to the Italian ‘Ndrangheta and criminal Balkan clans. For example in the Case of the Italian entrepreneur Pasquale Lamberti75, played a role that disappeared into Italy in 2021, probably killed by the mafia.
The Lucerne criminal court condemned the company boss, the economic advisor and the trustee in November 2024 for commercial fraud. The company boss and the economist were added. At the company boss, damage to the creditor and mismanagement. He received a prison sentence of three years, the finance man for two years, the trustee for 16 months. All conditional punishments, only the company boss, who declared himself innocent, is supposed to serve eight months. The judgment is not yet final, the case goes to the next instance. The presumption of innocence applies.
IMPLENIA: “Null tolerance posture”
The Lucerne iron layer company is still active, according to industry experts, among other things, when renovating the Gubrist tunnel. For the working group led by Implenia.
A worker pushes a wheelbarrow in the 2nd Gubrist tube, recorded during a construction site tour in January 2024. As part of this renovation, the entire road, the false ceiling as well as the operating and safety equipment (BSA) are replaced and brought up to date.
