Court in Winterthur convicts ex-Microsoft sales manager

On Tuesday, the Winterthur district court sentenced a former sales manager at Microsoft Switzerland to 30 months in prison for unfair business management. He would have defrauded his employer of about 1.5 million francs.

According to the verdict announced on Tuesday, the court considered it proven that the 65-year-old Swiss resident of the Winterthur region caused financial damage to Microsoft through a construction that he controlled together with several companies. The court convicted him of multiple qualified fraudulent business transactions and multiple forgery of documents.

The convict was responsible for sales at Microsoft Switzerland for public schools. Microsoft did not sell the licenses for its programs directly to the schools, but through private partner companies.

The sales manager would have run his own company in a covert and illegal way – to the detriment of Microsoft. Among other things, he was accused of using discount models that the software company offers to schools.

The prison sentence is suspended for a period of 24 months with a probationary period of two years. The remaining six months are considered to have accrued because of the approximately one-year pre-trial detention. The convicted person does not have to go back to prison if he does not commit any new offenses during the probationary period.

Process took way too long

According to the chairman, the sentence was reduced by about a third because the trial, which lasted about 10 years, was “significantly too long”. Individual accusations were already time-barred.

A 52-year-old Swiss man who would have been involved in the crime as a stooge was also on trial together with the main suspect. He was sentenced to 16 months in prison on probation for complicity in multiple qualified disloyal business dealings. He also only has to go to jail if he is guilty of something within the probationary period of two years.

High financial demands from Microsoft

According to the verdicts, the two former business partners also owe Microsoft about CHF 1.5 million. There is also a court fee of CHF 111,000. The claim is likely to be covered by seized bills.

Microsoft could pursue further claims through civil law. According to the indictment, the damage would have amounted to more than 4 million francs.

At the hearing, the responsible public prosecutor primarily demanded a conviction for commercial fraud or complicity therein. The defenders of the two suspects demanded an acquittal. The court did not consider the facts of commercial fraud fulfilled.

The massive case of white-collar crime has occupied the judiciary in Zurich for years. Microsoft became suspicious in 2012 and fired the sales manager. In the spring of 2013, the house was searched, followed by an extensive investigation.

The convictions against the former sales manager and his accomplice are not yet final. This can be appealed to the Zurich Supreme Court. (sda)