Three years ago, an entrepreneur disappeared in Italy. His businesses and his fortune found themselves in the middle of the Calabrian mafia: Swiss intermediaries played an important role in this case.
Henry Habegger / ch media
On July 3, 2021, Pasquale Lamberti, 68, disappeared in the vicinity of Milan. The Calabrian origin entrepreneur left a note on a mobile phone at his home. She started thus:
“My life is in danger. If you read this message, it means that I have not returned ”
Then the contractor from Monza appointed four people “responsible for his possible disappearance”.
Vici Pasquale Lamberti.Image: dr
Pasquale Lamberti is not reappeared to date. His wife thinks he was murdered and dissolved in acid, as she said in tears in the Italian television show Le Iene.
A few days ago, the Brescia prosecutor’s office had five people arrested. Among them, according to the Italian media, two people whom the entrepreneur had cited in his message: the broker Claudio M*, 59 years old, and Gabriele A*, 51 years old. But also a man by the name of Antonio Bruzzaniti, domiciled in the vicinity of Milan. It is considered a figurehead of the clan ‘ndrangheta of the morabito-bruzzaniti-palamara of the region of Africo in Calabria.
According to Italian media, suspects are accused of fraudulent bankruptcy, illegal appropriation of public funds, embezzlement of funds and tax crimes. Several million funds have been seized.
Already in 2021, after the entrepreneur’s disappearance, the Monza prosecutor’s office opened an investigation. In his message, Lamberti had still written:
“The four people mentioned control my whole fortune”
It turned out that the entrepreneur had paid 2.6 million euros in a questionable investment fund. Claudio M. had apparently promised high yields. Once the money has been disappeared, the criminals would have managed to strip of its companies active in real estate, electrical facilities or animal food.
Be that as it may, great criminals quickly settled at the head of the Lamberti companies. Bruzzaniti mafia family members, but also Claudio M. and his accountant. They looted the companies of companies, charges luxury cars and even dental care. They weakened businesses and led them to bankruptcy. Lamberti was “threatened and insulted” by Claudio M. in the company, according to The Corriere della Calabria.
Questionable structures in Switzerland
The structures by which alleged fraud has passed are in Switzerland. They have been set up and managed by local staff. Research has made it possible to discover the names of at least six lawyers, notaries, trustee and other Swiss businessmen. All declare that they have acted in compliance with the law.
A chronological reconstruction makes it possible to better understand what happened. In 2012, an Italian entrepreneur founded a commercial company in Chiasso, Ticino.
In 2016, the company was sold and changed its name. It was now a so-called plaster trade located at an excellent location in Zurich, which could also grant loans and carry out financial transactions. In a short time, the organs have changed several times.
In 2017, the company was moved to the canton of Saint-Gall, it was now a general company which also carried out ironwork, formwork and masonry work. This public limited company then received the name by which the alleged fraud transit in Italy from 2020.
Indeed, at the latest from 2020, as shown by the research carried out with people who know the facts, the Italian “broker” Claudio M. and his alleged “accountant” Gabriele A. were behind the company.
Millions to a false investment company in Prague
In January 2020, the “broker” appointed an Italian from Chiasso as director of the company. The man had already been previously sentenced to falsify documents, the people who know him think that he was used as an instrument by the mafia.
A little later, from early February 2020, Lamberti began to transfer large sums of Italy money to an investment company based in Prague. A company that was only wind, which the entrepreneur probably did not realize. At first, high interests were paid to him, as his stepson explains in the show The hyenas. Apparently it was to encourage him to invest more.
In the space of six months, the entrepreneur transferred a total of 2.6 million euros to the fictitious company per tranches of 50,000 to 500,000 euros. The money apparently landed in the alleged broker Claudio M., in whom Lamberti had seen, according to his own saying, a “fraternal friend”. Lamberti has apparently never seen money.
-Whether for lack of money or for any reason, in September 2020, Lamberti sold his company to the doubtful Swiss “general enterprise” whose condemned crook was the director. Transaction amount: 3.65 million euros.
Money would never have transited by the company’s accounts
The only member of the Board of Directors of the Swiss “General Enterprise” was at the time a Zurich lawyer. Asked, he indicates that no amount of money has never transitted through the accounts of the company and that it has nothing to blame itself.
And it might be true. Indeed, the purchase price of 3.65 million would have been paid in cash to the entrepreneur’s daughter. The transaction, including the sales contract, was authenticated by a Mendrisio notary. He was signed by the daughter and the director. The daughter said that she had signed on her father’s instructions, who assured her that everything was in order.
The man of straw designated as “director”, apparently a seriously ill man who would have transmitted the money, denied him on the show The hyenas. At the end of 2020, he was dismissed from his position as “director”. On July 3, 2021, the entrepreneur Pasquale Lamberti disappeared without leaving traces.
On July 8, 2021, the headquarters of the “general enterprise” was transferred to the canton of Zurich. A new board of directors made up only of Swiss members has come into office and the company, now an investment company, has received another name, the same as one of the Italian companies which would have been torn from the entrepreneur . The new board of directors has not yet reacted to our emails.
A Swiss fiduciary company “bought” a stolen company
At the end of July 2021 after the disappearance of Lamberti, the “accountant” A., domiciled in Monza in Italy, also joined the company.
During this period, the “general enterprise”, which no longer exists today, sold the Italian company in Switzerland: 3.65 million. The alleged buyer was a fiduciary company in the canton of Schwyz. It was managed by a retired Swiss trustee, but in fact belonged to the Italian Claudio M.
According to Italian media, several luxury cars have been purchased through this company, but were obviously not paid. This would have led the fiduciary agent on the verge of bankruptcy. Contacted, the Schwytzois fiduciary agent does not wish to express himself:
“I can’t say anything, I hope you understand me”
We know that Claudio M. obtained a residence permit in the canton of Zurich and that he himself sat in a company as a member of the board of directors. According to a trading partner, the residence permit was obtained through another Italian. The case is complex, ancient networks are at work. In the background, a group of people in Switzerland plays a role, some of which have been active in automotive trade for years.
A Swiss lawyer declares that in his knowledge, Claudio M. would have spent a lot of time in prison because of drugs. According to Italian media, he was imprisoned for various crimes, including a murder:
“He didn’t look like a mafia at all”
A Swiss who was dealing with him.
It seems that Claudio M. was the godfather of a clan of the ‘Ndrangheta. In Switzerland, he found, it seems, accomplices in turn, but who probably suspected nothing. The fact remains that we still do not know what has become of Pasquale Lamberti, if he is an accomplice or victim, if he has disappeared or if he has been killed.
There is presumption of innocence.
*Known name of the editorial staff
Translated from German by Anne Castella
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