Crans‑Montana fire reignites scrutiny of Corsican mafia links in Switzerland
Fire that killed 41 people in Crans-Montana has focused attention on alleged Corsican mafia ties to Swiss banks and businesses.
A deadly fire at the Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana that killed 41 people earlier this year has reopened scrutiny of Corsican organised-crime ties in Switzerland.
Investigations and witness accounts collected since the tragedy point to long-standing patterns: criminal clans have used Swiss banks, shell companies, luxury-watch trading and motorsport events to launder millions of euros over decades.
Owners, past links and suspicious banking alerts
Bar owners Jacques and Jessica Moretti have come under intense examination as prosecutors probe how the couple built a hospitality business in a few years without declaring the initial capital used to start it. Authorities say Jacques Moretti was previously convicted for pimping and from 2010 to 2014 ran the cabaret Lollapalosa on Corsica, in an area under heavy influence of the Petit Bar clan.
So far there is no direct proof that the Morettis participated in illegal operations. Still, banks handling their accounts reportedly sent suspicious-transaction reports in January to the Swiss Money Laundering Reporting Office, and a filing to the prosecutor in the canton of Valais allegedly flagged non-transparent bookkeeping and did not exclude possible links to Corsican organised crime. French authorities later requested the same documentation.
Italian journalist and organised-crime expert Roberto Saviano said after the disaster that he believes the Corsican mafia is connected to the case, arguing that mafia-run companies often exist not primarily for traditional profit but to absorb funds and channel illicit capital into the legal economy. Corsican prosecutor Jean-Philippe Navar, who has worked on organised crime for more than 20 years, told investigators that Corsican clans have maintained links with Switzerland for decades.
Navar and other experts say Corsican networks have invested where geographic distance, lack of transparency and financial advantages let them operate anonymously and beyond the practical reach of French justice. The Crans-Montana fire has thus revived wider questions about how Alpine resorts may be used as nodes in international money-laundering schemes.
Photo: Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP / Profimedia
