Swiss prosecutors on Monday said five more current and former local officials were under criminal investigation over the New Year bar fire in the ski resort of Crans-Montana that killed 41 people.<\/p>\n
The prosecutor’s office in southwestern Switzerland’s Wallis canton, where the upmarket ski resort is located, declined to provide further details.<\/p>\n
However, a source close to the case confirmed to AFP that the mayor of the Crans-Montana municipality, Nicolas Feraud, is among those under investigation, as reported by Swiss media.<\/p>\n
The source said a former municipal councillor in charge of security, and current or former public safety officials, have also been placed under criminal investigation.<\/p>\n
The move widens the scope of the investigation into the inferno in the early hours of January 1 at Le Constellation bar.<\/p>\n
Besides those killed — who were mostly teenagers — a further 115 people were injured and 58 remain in hospitals in Switzerland and other countries.<\/p>\n
The municipality triggered outrage on January 6 when it revealed that no annual safety check had been carried out at the bar since 2019.<\/p>\n
Nine people are now under criminal investigation.<\/p>\n
They include the French bar owners, Jacques and Jessica Moretti, who face charges of manslaughter by negligence, bodily harm by negligence and arson by negligence.<\/p>\n
Crans-Montana’s current head of public safety and a former fire safety officer in the town were also already under criminal investigation.<\/p>\n
– ‘Profoundly shaken’ –<\/p>\n
“We are clearly satisfied with the expansion of proceedings,” said Sebastien Fanti, a lawyer representing four victims’ families.<\/p>\n
He told AFP that “the question now arises whether Mr Feraud can continue to lead this municipality”.<\/p>\n
Wallis prosecutors are investigating the circumstances of the fire, whether safety regulations were followed and who was responsible.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors believe the fire started when champagne bottles with sparklers attached were raised too close to the basement bar’s ceiling, igniting the sound insulation foam.<\/p>\n
The current and former municipal officials now under criminal investigation, as well as Jacques Moretti, are to be questioned by prosecutors between April 7 and 15, another source close to the case told AFP.<\/p>\n
– Bar owners under scrutiny –<\/p>\n
The bar owners are meanwhile also under suspicion for money laundering, media reports revealed Monday.<\/p>\n
The Swiss federal police’s money laundering unit, MROS, sent a report last month to Wallis prosecutors raising concerns over the couple’s business dealings.<\/p>\n
The 15-page document was based on reports of suspicious activity submitted by banking intermediaries, Le Temps daily reported.<\/p>\n
The main concerns centred on numerous transfers of funds between various companies owned by the couple, with the sums involved in the hundreds of thousands of Swiss francs (dollars).<\/p>\n
“This method of operating, by transferring funds between the different business entities owned by the Moretti couple, appears to be a modus operandi reminiscent of transit accounts,” the document stated, cited by the RTS public broadcaster.<\/p>\n
Such accounts are typically used to obscure the traceability of funds.<\/p>\n
Other practices have led investigators to request that judicial authorities examine elements that could constitute offences such as mismanagement, forgery, insurance fraud, or serious tax evasion.<\/p>\n
The report mentions “the existence of a suspected criminal financial scheme, comparable to a Ponzi scheme”, media reported.<\/p>\n
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