Moretti bought the Le Constellation bar in the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana in 2015. The couple then rebuilt it. This was not their only place in this area. The bar that burned down during a New Year's Eve party was famous for its very lax approach to safety regulations.
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Why was Jacques Moretti arrested?
What charges were brought against the bar owners?
What did the owners do after the fire?
What was the cause of the fire in the bar?
On Friday, the media circulated information about the arrest of Jacques Moretti after his earlier interrogation. The reason for this decision is concern about the man's possible escape. He is a citizen of France, which does not extradite its citizens, and has worked in several countries in recent years. Additionally, he was convicted of pimping and fraud in the past. This took place in 2008. Moretti was accused of “recruiting, training or grooming” several women in La Clusaz, France, between the summer of 2004 and November 2005 “for the purpose of engaging in prostitution.”
His wife is still at large. She was placed under electronic monitoring and obliged to report to the police every three days. From the very beginning, the couple declared their willingness to “fully cooperate with the investigation.” However, recent findings from “The Guardian” shed a slightly different light on their assurances.
New reports on a fire in a bar in Switzerland. This was what the owners were supposed to do
According to lawyers of the victims of the tragic fire, the prosecutor's office is acting too slowly in obtaining key evidence. Romain Jordan and Ronald Asmar from the Geneva law firm Merkt, who were at the Morettis' hearing on Friday, claim that while firefighters were extinguishing the fire, the bar's owners deactivated their Instagram and Facebook accounts, deleting photos and videos that could be “useful for the investigation.”
Their reports also show that initially they did not want to allow the lawyers of the victims' families to question the couple. “Authorities are only now beginning to fully review the investigation,” Jordan says.
Tragic fire in Switzerland
On New Year's Eve, a fire broke out at the Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana, probably caused by fireworks attached to champagne bottles that were intended to set fire to a ceiling made of flammable foam. As a result of the fire, 40 people died and 119 were injured. The health condition of many of them is described as serious or very serious.
The Swiss prosecutor's office has charged the bar owners, Jacques and Jessica Moretti, with three charges: unintentional manslaughter, unintentional causing bodily injury and unintentional causing a fire.
