Lech gondola lift

Accused employees deny allegations

Rides on the Zipfelbob in Lech: Who can now collect the rental fees?

(Bild: stock.adobe.com/Trischberger Rupert)

The employees of a gondola lift in Lech in Vorarlberg are accused of having evaded the rental fees for Zipfelbobs for years. However, the rental business had allegedly been run independently by the employees since the 1980s - with the knowledge of the management.  

A turning point in the affair surrounding a bobsleigh rental company in the posh ski resort of Lech in Vorarlberg: just a few days ago, the managing director of the Oberlech mountain railroad accused employees of embezzlement. Over a period of ten years, they had not paid the rental fees for Zipfel bobsleighs into the company's coffers, but had pocketed them themselves. Now the accused are defending themselves and making people sit up and take notice: The rental business would have been run like this for 40 years.

Accused represented by a lawyer
After allegations against twelve employees of the Lech-Oberlech mountain railroad became known, they are now defending themselves against the accusations. According to the company, they allegedly evaded rental fees for Zipfelbobs over a period of years and caused losses of around 370,000 euros. The allegations are rejected in the strongest possible terms, four of the employees announced via their lawyers on Friday.

As early as the 1980s, the management had expressly allowed employees to carry out the bobsleigh rental independently. The employees had also purchased most of the bobsleighs themselves. The rental had always been on public display, meaning that the management had been "aware of the processes for over 40 years".

Disputes in the background
According to the lawyers, the annual financial statements and VAT returns show that the company had no income from the rental of the bobsleighs. The fact that it took the new managing director over a winter season to establish this speaks for itself. The employees were the "victims of farmers" in disputes that had been raging in Lech for years.

Bergbahn Lech-Oberlech GmbH & Co KG had announced on Tuesday that the managing director appointed in 2022 had noticed at the beginning of 2024 that the booked revenue from bobsleigh rental was too low, whereupon he carried out more detailed checks. The fees were only collected in cash and were not posted to the cash register by the employees, but were split between them. Extrapolated over ten years, this is said to have resulted in a net loss of around 370,000 euros. The shareholders, the tax office and the public prosecutor's office were informed immediately.