Former top Swiss banker Vincenz back in court to fight 2022 conviction

ZURICH, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Former Raiffeisen Bank CEO Pierin Vincenz appeared in a Zurich court on Monday as an appeal opened into his 2022 conviction on fraud charges in what was one of the most sensational corporate trials in recent Swiss history.

Judges are examining allegations that Vincenz and business partner Beat Stocker illicitly enriched themselves through company acquisitions by taking stakes in firms before having them bought by Raiffeisen or a payments firm called Aduno.

The Zurich high court will also look again at Vincenz's expenses, after prosecutors accused him of misusing corporate credit cards to spend thousands of Swiss francs in Switzerland's red-light districts, in strip clubs, on Dubai trips and a Tinder date billed to the bank.

Vincenz and Stocker have consistently denied wrongdoing. Vincenz argued at the original trial that the money was spent on managing business relationships.

However, a Zurich district court ruled that the spending was not in the bank's interest. In April 2022, the court found Vincenz guilty of fraud, unfaithful business management and passive bribery, sentencing him to three years and nine months in prison.

Stocker received four years.

The Zurich high court in 2024 overturned the conviction on procedural grounds, but Switzerland's Federal Supreme Court revived the verdict, paving the way for the appeal.

Proceedings are set to run through August 21 due to the size of the case files and its complexity. If that is not enough, more dates have been set for late August and early September.

Vincenz, 70, remains at liberty pending a definitive decision.

The case could rumble on for a long time since any high court ruling can be appealed again to the Supreme Court.

(Writing by Dave GrahamEditing by Keith Weir)