SBB: A hundred francs for me. Nine million? Seventeen years asleep.

Before COVID, I went into the office every day with a monthly travelcard. Buying a ticket was something I only had to think about once a month. Then working from home arrived, and that routine stopped.

On my first day back at the office, I forgot to buy a ticket. It simply slipped my mind: after months at home, I no longer had a travelcard and had to remember to pay for that individual journey.

The ticket inspector, however, had no such lapse.

A hundred-franc fine.

Punctual. Precise. Swiss efficiency, sitting beside me with the bill already prepared.

Which is why I took a particular interest in the case of a former SBB executive. According to Switzerland’s federal prosecutors, he and others allegedly caused losses of almost 8.7 million francs between 2007 and 2024. Seventeen years. ^[1]

I had forgotten a ticket. They, apparently, had forgotten to look inside their own organisation.

According to the prosecution, invoices were paid for deliveries that mostly never happened. Occasionally, some goods did arrive: goods SBB had no use for, invoiced at inflated prices. ^[2]

Passengers have to prove they are entitled to be on board. The goods, apparently, only had to exist on paper. Actually existing was an optional extra.

Blick describes a house in Florida costing 435,000 francs and thirteen vehicles, including a Lamborghini costing 400,000. There is no confirmed escape to Florida: the man was arrested in Olten in November 2024. ^[3]

A Lamborghini. Because when you want to keep a low profile, that is obviously where discreet commuting begins.

Also according to Blick, the alarm was raised by an outside tip-off, from an acquaintance of the executive. ^[4]

Someone from outside apparently had to tell that great machine of Swiss precision where to look. They could add it to the announcements: “Dear passengers, please keep an eye on our accounts as well as your luggage.”

With me, all they had to do was ask for a ticket. Inside the company, they had to check orders, invoices and deliveries. In other words, do some work. Far less satisfying than teaching the customer a lesson.

Bureaucratic stupidity has this talent: it confuses the ease of punishing someone with the ability to keep anything under control. When arrogance travels first class, competence is apparently free to stay on the platform.

And then the finishing touch: some of the alleged offences are already time-barred. Prosecutors put the unlawful enrichment still covered by the charges at around five million francs. ^[1]

The calendar worked harder than the internal controls.

A hundred francs for me on my first journey. For the millions, seventeen years and a helpful hint from outside.

The problem is that smug schoolteacher’s look as the system tells you that rules are rules. Then you discover that, while marking your work, it was asleep over its own homework.

My ticket was missing. So were their checks. But I was the one handed the bill.