Facts
[A.] was the sole member of the Board of Directors and Managing Director of [B. AG] , which was declared bankrupt on June 7, 2012. The Public Prosecutor's Office of Basel-Stadt initiated criminal proceedings against [A.] in 2010 for fraud, forgery of documents, bankruptcy and debt collection offenses, as well as other offenses. Specifically, he was accused of failing to keep accounts for the company, so that its financial position was not apparent at the time of the bankruptcy.
By penal order of the Public Prosecutor's Office of Basel-Stadt dated September 7, 2016, [A.] was found guilty of failure to keep accounts. The Court of Appeal of Basel-Stadt, partially upholding the appeal, found [A.] guilty of failure to keep accounts and sentenced him to a suspended fine of 5 daily rates of CHF 30.-- with a probationary period of 2 years.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court notes that the lower court did not violate federal law when it found that the appellant was never threatened with a custodial sentence of more than one year (from January 1, 2011) or more than two years (until December 31, 2010), and that the appointment of mandatory defense counsel was therefore not indicated. All evidence is accordingly admissible.
The lower court also does not act arbitrarily when it finds that the appellant did not keep proper accounts for [B. AG] for the years 2008 and 2009.…