Facts
The appellant [X.] was found guilty by the High Court of the Canton of Aargau of embezzlement, multiple qualified deception of the authorities, multiple repeated employment of foreigners without authorization, failure to keep accounts, multiple embezzlement of withholding tax, and multiple violations of OASIA, and was sentenced to a prison term of 3 1/2 years and a fine.
The Public Prosecutor's Office Brugg-Zurzach had originally brought charges against [X.] , and the District Court of Zurzach had partially found him guilty. Both the Public Prosecutor's Office and [X.] had appealed, and the High Court of the Canton of Aargau had found [X.] guilty in the second instance.
[X.] lodged an appeal and requested to be acquitted of the charges of embezzlement, multiple qualified deception of the authorities, multiple repeated employment of foreigners without authorization, failure to keep accounts, multiple embezzlement of withholding tax, and multiple violations of OASIA, and to be sentenced to a fine.
Considerations
The Federal Court examined the appeal and came to the conclusion that the lower court had arbitrarily determined the sentence. The basic sentence of 18 months for embezzlement was too high in view of the amount of the offense of CHF 15,000.--. The Federal Court overturned the judgment of the High Court and referred the case back to the lower court for reassessment.
The Federal Court found that the lower court had arbitrarily determined the sentence according to Art. 49 SCC, as it had set the basic sentence too high. The lower court had set the basic sentence at 18 months, although the amount of the offense was only CHF 15,000.--. The Federal Court found that this was inappropriately…