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HEALTH

Outrage in Switzerland after company bosses ‘buy back luxury cars with coronavirus loans’

Swiss authorities are investigating a scheme whereby entrepreneurs allegedly used money obtained from the country’s coronavirus rescue package to buy back their luxury cars.

Outrage in Switzerland after company bosses 'buy back luxury cars with coronavirus loans'
A Ferrari pictured in Monaco. Photo: VALERY HACHE / AFP
As reported in the Tages Anzeiger, a number of Swiss entrepreneurs accessed the funds – but used the money to ‘buy back’ their luxury cars, which they had used to secure loans from upmarket Swiss automobile pawn shops. 

Cedric Domeniconi, who founded automobile ‘pawn shop’ Auto Pfandhaus, told Swiss newspaper 20 Minutes that since the lockdown started, several entrepreneurs were suddenly flush with enough cash to buy back their fancy cars. 

The car brands included Ferraris, Porsches, Rolls Royces, Aston Martins and Mercedes. 

The Swiss government made more than CHF60 billion available as part of the coronavirus rescue package, with CHF40 billion put on the table in low-interest business loans. 

“Since the emergency aid for the Covid 19 pandemic started, we have conspicuously picked up many luxury cars from entrepreneurs.”

“We know that many customers use the emergency loans to buy back the pledge that they originally covered with their car.”

The car pawnshop provides loans up to a maximum of CHF100,000. 

Although coronavirus loan regulations state that loans cannot be used to service other loans, the Tages Anzeiger writes that crafty financial moves have enabled this to take place. 

This is because ‘car mortgages’ – i.e. loans where a car is used as collateral – do not appear on Swiss debt registers. This means that transactions can be made without the corresponding data being traceable the paper reported. 

Fraud in Vaud

It comes after news from the western canton of Vaud, where the Public Prosecutors Office was looking into an alleged multi-million franc fraud of coronavirus support money. 

The fraud was discovered by banks in the canton, who informed the federal police that money received as part of the coronavirus stimulus payments had been transferred abroad. 

The alleged perpetrators are Swiss nationals from Turkey, who are suspected of having transferred several million dollars received under the coronavirus loan scheme abroad. 

 

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HEALTH

The essential Swiss websites you need to use for health matters

If you just moved to Switzerland (or even if you have lived here for a while), your learning curve about health-related matters in the country may be steep. These sites will help you find the information you need.

The essential Swiss websites you need to use for health matters

Staying healthy is probably one of your top priorities, but doing so in a foreign country is not easy.

That is why having some reliable resources that you can check out and follow will be helpful.

First: The Local

No, we are not doctors, but we have published a number of factual articles over the years about many aspects of healthcare in Switzerland that our readers find helpful.

You can find a compilation of these health-related stories here

Federal Office of Public Health 

Obviously, when it comes to matters of health, the Health Ministry has lots of information that will be relevant to you at one time or another.

Aside from matters of health policy (which is important for all residents of Switzerland), the site also has a regularly updated Infectious Diseases Dashboard to let you know what communicable illnesses are currently circulating in Switzerland — and how to avoid them.

It also provides age-specific health information and recommendations — for instance, for children and teenagers, as well as for the elderly.

Hospital websites

Individual hospitals in your area are good sources of information as well, and many of them are in English.

You can find there general health information, care and treatment options, online emergency room signup, new medical technologies being used, and other patient resources:

Geneva University Hospitals (HUG)

Vaud University Hospital (CHUV)

Zurich University Hospital

Basel University Hospital 

If you live in an area without a university medical centre, your local hospital is also a valuable source of health-related information.

Appointment booking platform

This website is especially useful for people who don’t yet have a doctor in Switzerland but need to set an appointment with one. 

It gives you an option of choosing a specialty and location, and then displays doctor’s names and addresses, background information about them, and which time slots they have available.

You can easily set up an appointment this way.

Your health insurer’s website

This may not be an intuitive choice for impartial information about healthcare but you may be surprised.

For instance, Sanitas insurance site has information about emergency care decisions, and how to void unnecessary medical treatments.

CSS has health information geared specifically to men and women.

Helsana talks about ways to combat stress and sleep problems.

These are just a few examples on what valuable tips you can find on your insurer’s website.

Websites devoted to specific medical conditions

If you seek information about a specific illness — such as treatment options in Switzerland — there are plenty of online resources for that as well.

For instance:

Heart and cardiovascular 

Diabetes 

Osteoporosis 

Mental illness 

General pain 

Other diseases 

Last but not least, while not related to health, these websites will also provide useful information for international residents:

The Swiss websites that can help you save money
 
The most useful website resources to help you get Swiss citizenship 
 
 

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