The number of businesses thought to have made fraudulent claims for financial support during the Covid pandemic is significantly higher than expected.
- That's according to the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, with funds paid out fraudulently totalling at least CHF 290 million.
Covid credits were set up to provide emergency funding during the pandemic to help businesses to stay afloat.
The Swiss Government anticipated that some people might try to abuse the system but it appears that the number of fraudulent claims has exceeded their worst fears.
In total, CHF 16.9 billion was paid out to support businesses, with around 1.7 % of this thought to be for fraudulent claims.
But, according to a report in the NZZ am Sonntag, this figure is expected to increase significantly in the coming years, as only 2,500 cases of suspected fraud have been investigated so far with another 4,600 claims, suspected to be fraudulent, yet to be looked into.
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