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Heads roll in the VBL subsidy debacle: all board members are resigning, including councilman Martin Merki
Five out of five VBL board members resign. It is not clear who is responsible for the disaster.
A VBL bus at the Lucerne train station.
- An investigation report reaches the end: those responsible for the Lucerne public transport system (VBL) did not behave correctly.
- A short report, prepared on behalf of the transport company, concludes that VBL’s management has not been criminalized.
- Lucerne City Council accepts resignation offers from the Board of Directors. Three members of the board of directors are retiring with immediate effect, City Councilor Martin Merki is also retiring from the board of directors.
- The Lucerne City Council waived a complaint. That is a matter for the Lucerne Transport Association (VVL) or the Federal Office for Transport (BAV). The VVL examines criminal proceedings.
- The VBL is said to have received overpayments of 16 million francs.
(brake / sma) Chairman of the Board of Directors Yvonne Hunkeler, Silvana Beeler Gehrer and Jon Bisaz will be stepping down as members of the VBL Board of Directors effective immediately, while Vice Chairman Markus Lötscher will step down for professional reasons. This is aimed at weakening the “broken relationship” with the Lucerne city hall in particular. The city council has accepted the resignations that were offered in September, “regardless of the results of the investigation report”, as it became known Friday morning at a press conference.
Councilor Martin Merki is also retiring from the VBL board of directors. The reason for this is that the investigation report shows that the role of the city representative on the VBL management board has not been sufficiently clarified. The report advises to critically question the meeting of the members of the city council and indicates that, according to the most recent doctrine, “as a general rule, sitting with representatives of the executive branch should be avoided”. It is unclear when Merki will leave the board of directors. The entire city council decides the moment. The city council does not accept the resignation of the director of VBL, Norbert Schmassmann, as it is the responsibility of the new board.
The background to the controversy is the allegation that the VBL unjustifiably received 16 million francs in taxpayer money. Therefore, the FOT accused the VBL in early March of violating the subsidy law. Subsequently, VBL refused to pay the money to the grant provider VVL. The company required the approval of the Lucerne City Council, which is the sole shareholder of VBL. However, the city council refused to give this consent.
Investigation report: VBL leaders have behaved “improperly”
The investigative report, which was released on Friday, provides for the first time a comprehensive look at the background to the $ 16 million claim that the VVL is directing to the VBL. This contains quite explosive. Main finding: Those responsible for VBL “had not behaved correctly”. The participation structure was created with the stated intention of “drying the profits” in order to meet the dividend expectations of the City of Lucerne. The imputed interest should also have served this purpose.
The VBL criticized the report for a long time. “The report is disappointing, one-sided, damaging, incomplete and in no way satisfies the city council’s demand for complete clarification,” says Yvonne Hunkeler, Chairman of the Board of Directors. Unclear facts are interpreted in most cases to the detriment of the VBL, but especially in favor of the BAV, the VVL and the city of Lucerne. “A short report that lawyer Stefan Maeder prepared on behalf of the company transport concludes that the management of VBL has not been held responsible for a judicial process.
The city now wants to establish a transition board of directors “as soon as possible.” This will clarify with the VVL and BAV if and how compensation was received in the years 2010 to 2017 and should be reimbursed. The VVL is confirmed in its demand to recover the 16 million francs from the VBL. It is now also examining criminal actions.
The Lucerne city parliament’s business audit commission also commented on the report. It recommends filing a complaint against those responsible to clarify any criminal responsibility.
