Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - A late night accident on the lake road near Geneva, a young driver with too much alcohol in his system, the driver of the other car in serious condition: accidents of this sort happen often enough that they rarely make the front page of Swiss newspapers.

Add in a Lamborghini, other flashy cars, rich children of Russian commercial celebrities and a story with international headlines surfaces. Stir in local political squabbles plus what looks to some people like rich foreigners fleeing the country in the face of Swiss justice, and a continuing headliner of wealth, incompetence and scandal is born.

Geneva media, police, lawyers exchange barbs

An accident which took place 19 November in Genthod, between Geneva and Versoix, has not only made headlines, it is putting Geneva police, authorities and Swiss media in the hot seat. Wednesday 25 November Geneva’s public prosecutor, Daniel Zappelli, said he had received a police file on the case, nearly a week after the accident and the day after he complained that he had received nothing. He has now officially opened a criminal investigation.

The media say police and officials reacted too slowly but the lawyer for the accused, a Geneva police spokesperson who talked to GenevaLunch and officials have expressed dismay at local media for hyping an event without facts. Jacques Barrillon, who represents the 22-year-old driver of the Lamborghini, told Russian journalists that “The story is being inflated in every possible way, just because it features nice, expensive cars, millionaire parents and foreign passports.”

Media in Switzerland are not normally able, under federal Swiss privacy laws, to mention the names of anyone connected with a police investigation, including witnesses, suspects and the accused. The exception is very well known people, and NZZ today appears to make that exception to mention the family of the two young men who left Switzerland on a private jet over the weekend, who reportedly were driving two of the cars 19 November. Local media traditionally attribute information to unnamed sources or offer an initial instead of a name, with the result that other media and the public in general are unable to verify the accuracy or completeness of information.

The accident left its mark on several individuals but it has  also drawn attention to the uncomfortable relationship between Swiss media and the country’s strict privacy laws, undermining the credibility of the media while at the same time limiting the amount of information the public has about a case whose implications go far beyond Geneva’s borders. Le Temps, for example, draws a connection between the treatment of rich Russians and that of the son of Libyan leader Moammar Qadaffi.

What the police have confirmed

The facts, as given by Geneva police to GenevaLunch: a Lamborghini driven by a 22-year-old Russian national, resident in Geneva, crashed into a VW Golf driven by a 70-year-old German man, also from Geneva, shortly after 23:00 on 19 November, on the lake road out of Bellevue, heading towards Versoix. The older man was hospitalized with serious injuries. The younger man, whose alcohol level was 0.11, was also hospitalized. Shortly before the accident, in Bellevue, neighbours of La Reserve, a swank five-star hotel and spa, reported hearing loud engine noises, and four expensive cars were spotted: the Lamborghini, a Porsche Cayenne Turbo, a Mercedes McLaren and a Bugatti Veyron. The drivers of all four cars were interviewed by the police. All are Russian nationals. The drivers of the last three cars were not at the scene of the accident when police arrived, nor were there witnesses placing them there.

Lost in translation

The unverified details, as reported by the Swiss press, later carried by Russian and UK media: the drivers were involved in a chase, or maybe not; all four fancy cars were at the scene of the accident at some point, or maybe not; the drivers were most likely renting cars they were too young to rent.

The story, as reported initially, was rife with speculation and innuendo. The Telegraph and the Guardian, among other UK media, picked up the story, as did several Russian media, but attributed incorrectly to the police statements about a car chase that appear to have been made to the Tribune by an unnamed witness.  The speculative nature of some statements made in the Tribune was lost in translation and the tale of a wild high-speed car chase became fact, despite Geneva police saying they have no real evidence of this, although they do not deny there could have been a chase of some sort.

Russian media dig for the facts, publish what they find

Meanwhile, Russian journalists, who are not obliged to respect strict Swiss privacy laws, have spoken to and quote lawyers, the student’s school and others in the case, showing the limited ability of Swiss privacy laws to protect people because the Internet does not respect borders. The name of the accused driver and the Russian study programme in Geneva where he has been studying law for five years are named. The school was contacted by Russian journalists Wednesday, and they were told the student has been kicked out for breaking the rules. The names were published early in the week of two young men, brothers, who reportedly drove two of the cars, as well as the news they left Geneva for Istanbul in a private jet.

Links to other sites:

• in Russia, in English: Moscow Times, Ria Novosti
• in the UK: Guardian, Telegraph
• in Switzerland: NZZ (Ger), Le Temps (Fre), Tribune de Geneve du 26 novembre, TSR (Fre)

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