Facts
The case concerns an individual, X., who was accused of misappropriation of a rented vehicle, a Dodge Ram 1500. X. had selected the vehicle and had taken care of the formalities, including signing the rental contracts with a company, B. GmbH, which was a shell company with no economic activity. The vehicle was handed over to X. by the rental company, C. AG, through the company B. GmbH. X. used the vehicle and disposed of it as if he were the owner, selling it to another company, D. GmbH, after the rental contract was terminated.
The lower courts convicted X. of misappropriation of the vehicle, but the court of appeal reduced the sentence and qualified the offense as unlawful appropriation. The public prosecutor appealed this decision, requesting that X. be found guilty of breach of trust.
Considerations
The Federal Court examined the question of whether the misappropriation of the rented vehicle could be qualified as breach of trust within the meaning of Article 138, paragraph 1, subsection 1, of the Swiss Criminal Code (SCC). The Court considered that the power to dispose of the vehicle had been entrusted to X. by the rental company, C. AG, through the company B. GmbH, and that X. had acted as a representative of the company B. GmbH.
The Court also considered that the relationship of trust between X. and the rental company was sufficient to justify a conviction for breach of trust, even if X. was not an employee of the company B. GmbH. The Court emphasized that the fact that X. had received…