Lombardi gets off with a black eye
The Ticino media entrepreneur Filippo Lombardi has to pay a fine for circulation fraud and traffic offenses, but is spared a prison sentence.
Ticino media entrepreneur Filippo Lombardi has to pay a fine for forgery and traffic offenses, but will be spared a prison sentence. 52-year-old Lombardi has been sentenced by a single judge in Bellinzona to a conditional fine of 60 daily rates of CHF 480 each and a fine of CHF 3,000. Lombardi was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, failure to control the vehicle and forgery.
The public prosecutor's office in Ticino had already sentenced the CVP member of the Council of States for these offenses last summer. They also wanted to commute a 2001 conditional sentence for driving under the influence of alcohol to 15 days in prison. Lombardi lodged an appeal against this. In the ruling published on Saturday, the single judge has now decided not to commute the conditional sentence to imprisonment.
The forgery concerns falsified circulation figures for the Ticino Giornale del Popolo, of which Lombardi was editor-in-chief from 1987 to 1996. The media entrepreneur had not denied that the figures for 1994 had been falsified. However, he is of the opinion that this does not constitute forgery within the meaning of the penal code. Lombardi is a board delegate of the private broadcaster Tele Ticino and president of Telesuisse, the Swiss regional television association.
The public prosecutor's office in Ticino had already sentenced the CVP member of the Council of States for these offenses last summer. They also wanted to commute a 2001 conditional sentence for driving under the influence of alcohol to 15 days in prison. Lombardi lodged an appeal against this. In the ruling published on Saturday, the single judge has now decided not to commute the conditional sentence to imprisonment.
The forgery concerns falsified circulation figures for the Ticino Giornale del Popolo, of which Lombardi was editor-in-chief from 1987 to 1996. The media entrepreneur had not denied that the figures for 1994 had been falsified. However, he is of the opinion that this does not constitute forgery within the meaning of the penal code. Lombardi is a board delegate of the private broadcaster Tele Ticino and president of Telesuisse, the Swiss regional television association.
