Facts
Christian Melliger, who manufactured wood products on his own account in Lucerne, founded the Carosserie- und Holzwaren G.m.b.H. (Melliger Coachwork and Woodware Limited Liability Company) on July 10, 1948, together with his accountant Kurt Breymayer. Melliger contributed the assets and liabilities of his business to his capital contribution of CHF 15,000. The capital contribution agreement, articles of association, and commercial register entry stated that the contributed assets amounted to CHF 47,354.75, the liabilities to CHF 32,337.60, and the net assets to CHF 15,017.15, referring to a balance sheet signed by both founders as of June 30, 1948. Among the assets, they mentioned a "building" and "machinery and tools" valued at CHF 5,600 and CHF 24,400 respectively.
In fact, the "building" was a chattel building that did not belong to Melliger, and the contributed machinery and tools were worth much less than CHF 24,400. On July 23, 1954, the Public Prosecutor's Office of the Canton of Lucerne brought charges against Melliger and Breymayer for forgery of documents and obtaining false certifications.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court's Court of Cassation upheld the conviction of the appellants. It stated that the appellants had incorrectly certified legally relevant facts in the balance sheet, the capital contribution agreement, and the articles of association by stating that the chattel building was Melliger's property and by overstating the value of the machinery and tools. This fulfilled the objective elements of Article 251(1)(2) of the Swiss Criminal Code.
The elements of Article 253 of the Swiss Criminal Code were also fulfilled, as the appellants had allowed incorrect facts to be…