A criminal complaint reveals a Swiss banker's extensive ties to the troubled debt vehicle. The banker, who recently stepped down at a Swiss cantonal bank over the scandal, enjoyed private jet flights to visit Ruvercap projects. 

An alleged fraud at Zurich-based Ruvercap Investment and its private debt vehicles is still ongoing – that's the accusation levied in a criminal complaint in connection with Ruvercap and Batagon, seen by finews.com. Investors allege the loss of several hundred million in opaque debt vehicles overseen by Ruvercap.

A Swiss wealth manager lodged a criminal complaint in Zug on August 25 – one day before disgruntled Ruvercap investors were to vote on a controversial proposal to forgo payment of 87.4 million euros ($104 million). In return, they would have received Black Horse, a loss-making Serbian battery manufacturer which a Ruvercap vehicle snapped up for 7.35 million.

Culmination of Fraud?

According to the criminal complaint, roughly 80 million euros were to remain on the books of Batagon, the company which bought the battery factory three years ago. The deal, which the complaint depicts as the culmination of the alleged fraud, was blown off at the last minute after news of the criminal complaint spread.

Zug-based Batagon turns up repeatedly in the Ruvercap scandal: it belongs to a Serbian who was deported from Switzerland due to financial crimes. Batagon invested Ruvercap money into various investments in the Balkan Peninsula, like Black Horse.

Exit Over Ties

Thomas Huber was on the board of several Batagon firms until June: the Swiss banker was a director at Graubuendner Kantonalbank until his ties to the scandal surfaced. The bank, in turn, was one of Ruvercap's weightiest backers, with 70 million francs invested.

Huber stepped down in May. The local government-backed lender told finews.com that it had reviewed its Ruvercap investments with outside advisers, and found no evidence of wrong-doing.

 Internal Loans

The criminal complaint calls Huber and ex-Ruvercap CEO M. C. «central figures» in the scheme; Huber's active involvement was integral to the the alleged fraud, the complaint asserts. Huber and Clapasson haven't been criminally charged in the matter.

The complaint seeks to portray the web around Batagon and related firms: a Luxembourg securitization firm sold two bonds of 87 million euros to Ruvercap's investors in March of 2017. It then extended credit in the same amount to another firm, Batagon Factoring. Several months later, yet another firm – Batagon International – bought the battery manufacturer for 7.35 million euros.

Batagon Factoring then wrote an 80 million euro loan to a further firm, Batagon Services. Batagon International then sold Black Horse, the battery maker, to the Services company for 80 million euros.

Reversal of Strategy

In May, Huber had told finews.com that the Black Horse transaction included credit lines, which justified the hefty loan. He also said the battery firm had in 2018 been sold to a Cypriot firm.

Batagon reversed strategy in 2017, according to a company profit-and-loss account seen by finews.com: it went from selling shampoos and detergents and became an investor in so-called non-performing loans in Balkan countries.

Second-Hand Private Jet

Battered companies like Black Horse were sold in order to mount a turnaround. Huber and another executive founded Batagon Air, a private jet firm. They bought a second-hand Cessna 11-seater, according to the report. The aircraft was used for charter aviation but also «internal company purposes,» it said.

Batagon emerged in 2018 with an 83 million franc profit thanks to a windfall from an asset disposal – it turned out to be the proceeds of Black Horse. Auditor Deloitte signed off on 2018's accounts before abandoning the mandate. Batagon International's system of controls didn't toe the line with Swiss law, the auditing firm said at the time.