Faude & Huguenin – bankruptcy of a traditional company: three sayings for former squad, open questions and an inexplicable gold lane
Spreading of a traditional company: three blends for former squads, open questions and an unexplained gold lane
In 2022, the medal producer Faude & Huguenin went bankrupt – now three squads have been convicted of incredible business management. Questions remain open – including gold bars.
Two of the three accused appeared on Friday for the pronouncement of the judgment in La Chaux-de-Fonds, the third stayed away from her. It was in Italy, it said. The court, like the Neuchâtel public prosecutor Marc Rémy, considered him the driving force in this very special case.
The case is the decline of the Faude & Huguenin company (F&H) in Le Locle Ne, which went bankrupt in 2022. Among other things, she had delivered medals and trophies to football associations such as FIFA and UEFA or the Olympic Committee IOC.
Huguenin also produced medals and jewelry for states on the Golf.
The owner family submitted criminal complaint
The criminal proceedings against the two Italians and the Swiss were initiated at the end of 2020 due to a criminal complaint by the President and owner of the company, Hanspeter Faude. The trio was confessed from the start to branched off money. But above all CFO and manager, Herhre claimed: The aim was to save the company. The president’s decisions would have endangered the company.
So they secretly founded a new company with which they wanted to restart if necessary: »Les Artisans Médailleurs ». The necessary share capital of CHF 100,000 branched off the trio at F&H.
Mathias Bauer, defender of the operations manager, says: From the accused’s point of view, there was a risk that the company went bankrupt due to actions by the president that numerous jobs and the major know-how significant for the region were lost. Because « regular large sums flowed to the other factory to India because machines were broken down and brought to Lucerne ». The suspect would not have caused the bankruptcy, says the lawyer, unfortunately the responsibilities of the owner were not examined more closely. In the conversation, the head of finance and manager expressed themselves similarly.
The thing is confused. Even the owners do not deny that some went wrong. Competition from low -wage countries was a problem for the company. Directors and a change of ownership did not improve the situation. In 2013, the three accused capital also shot to buy back the company together with Faude. The three squads later lost the money because they did not make a necessary capital. So Faude alone had the saying what the Romand’s apparently resented him.
The Gippingen location of Faude & Huguenin AG was abandoned in 2013 and production to India was outsourced.
According to the lawyer, it should have been clarified, whether and how this gold had been declared towards the refineries which stamps and certificates it had. In this context, money laundering delics could not be excluded a priori whether the company had been used for « washing » by gold questionable origin.
Prosecutor: No evidence of money laundering
Prosecutor Marc Rémy contradicts. He says: « I currently have no information that would enable me to suspect the company for money laundering or any other crime in connection with this gold. »
But the case has not yet been completed. The convicted manager will not appeal, as his lawyer says. Above all, the head of finance, who is supposed to go to prison, but the manager could also appeal.
The presumption of innocence applies until a final conviction.
