Swiss Post – bad habits

Switzerland is in shock and disappointment. It emerged in February that Swiss national icon "PostBus", used creative accounting tricks to illegally obtain at least 90.87 million francs in state subsidies for the operation of its regional transport services. In effect ripping off Swiss taxpayers.

The first-ever female CEO of Swiss Post, Susanne Ruoff, has has been forced out (June 2018) after mounting pressure because of this misbehavior. Strange that one of Ruoff’s fields of study was “Corporate Governance” at the University of St. Gallen.

PostBus director Daniel Landolf and finance director Roland Kunz both stepped down in February 2018 when details of the scandal first went public.

Ruoff claims she had not known about the illegal subsidies over the period in question but conceded a new external report into the affair showed there were certain indications of the malpractice from 2007 to 2015 and that this may have continued into 2016 and 2017.

Announcing her resignation, which comes shortly after the publication of a damning 200-page report into the affair, she said she assumed “overall responsibility”.

“Trust is good, but controls are better,” said Swiss Transport Minister Doris Leuthard on Monday, reacting to the news of the resignation.

The scandal has dented confidence in Swiss Post in a country where public trust in institutions is traditionally high.

Switzerland has been rocked by a number of severe business scandals in 2018. More oversight is needed.