Zug political scandal: crooked deal in Oberägeri

Chiara K. was supposed to own a magnificent property on Lake Ägeri, as her grandmother had wished. But it never happened. This is the story of a young woman who became a pawn in a political scandal – and who is now fighting back.
 

Fog hangs over Oberägeri, and the snowfall is intensifying on this February morning. Chiara K. (all names changed) protects herself with a large umbrella – from the weather, but also a little from the surroundings that were once so familiar to her and that now seem unpleasant in several ways.

She stands in front of the entrance to the property where she was born in the mid-2000s; From where, as a small child, she would wade into the lake, where she would sit on the large stones right by the shore and eat pizza, where she would play with her cousins among the towering trees.

Chiara K. hasn't been here in a long time: someone else now lives in the house by the lake. Chiara K.'s emotions are running high: "This all feels wrong," she says. "This should belong to us."

The property in front of which Chiara K. is standing is no ordinary property. It is the very piece of land that is currently at the centre of one of the biggest political scandals in Zug in recent decades. The very piece of land that was sold under questionable circumstances to a well-known billionaire, and that is now keeping a parliamentary inquiry committee (PUK) busy. It is the subject of countless legal proceedings as well as various stories.

"This actually belongs to us." Chiara K. in front of the lakeside property in Oberägeri, where she spent part of her childhood.           Photo: Boris Bürgisser

 

This is Chiara K.'s story.
Nani's Legacy

A year and a half after her birth, Chiara K. moved with her mother from Oberägeri to another canton. But her connection to the property on Lake Ägeri remained strong: her grandmother, whom Chiara calls "Nani," still lived there. Her mother and father had separated before Chiara's birth, and "Nani" was her second closest relative after her mother. At Nani's house on Lake Ägeri, Chiara still had her own room and her own rabbits.

The bond was so strong that her grandmother included Chiara K.—her only granddaughter— in her will regarding the property. The property is part of a family holding company: Chiara's mother and her mother's brother, Chiara's uncle, each hold 45% of the share capital, and Chiara holds the remaining 10%. Her shares were intended to act as a deciding factor, preventing any deadlock situation. And: "It was Nani's wish that the property remain in the family for generations to come. That's why she bequeathed me the 10%." She knew how much I loved being there, and that I would honour that wish.

But her grandmother's legacy was betrayed, according to Chiara K.

The dubious representative
Chiara K. first noticed dark clouds when her grandmother became seriously ill. She herself was not yet ten years old. "But I witnessed arguments." She speaks of conflicts between her mother and her uncle —but also between him and her grandmother. The reason: the uncle was determined to sell the property against the wishes of his mother and sister.

Chiara K.'s grandmother died in September 2013, and strange things happened in the following months: Chiara's cousins, who lived with the uncle in the house right next door to her grandmother's, suddenly informed her one day that they were emigrating.

And the magnificent estate slowly began to become overgrown. Plants grew wild in the garden, and hedges and trees were no longer trimmed.

This should actually have been prevented by Hans G. He is the executor of the grandmother's will. And he held the rights of Chiara K. as a proxy (Stimmrechtsvertreter). His task was to manage Chiara's shares until she turned 25, and to exercise her voting rights.

Chiara and her mother suggested to Hans G. that they should move into the house – just as Chiara's grandmother had wished. The Zuger Zeitung newspaper has a copy of a letter that, then almost ten years old, Shiaraent to her proxy. In cursive handwriting, she wrote: "My grandmother always promised me that I could live in her house one day. I therefore ask you to grant my wish and let me live with Mommy in my grandmother's house. Thank you!"

But the proxy did not grant Chiara K's wish. He never replied to her letter, and she says she has never spoken to him since. The man who was supposed to represent her interests had other plans: "He pushed through the sale of the property with my uncle."

The lawyers' tricks
This is the moment when the story first becomes complicated. Lawyers enter the scene, attempting the impossible through adventurous means: namely, that this property changed hands against the will of the majority – the mother and daughter together hold a 55% share.

In summary, Chiara K. describes the sequence of events as follows: the proxy and the uncle installed a confidant of the uncle on the board of directors of the property companies – ironically, using Chiara K's votes. They forced Chiara K.'s mother off the board.

The mother got wind of the plans and fought back. This was followed by a freeze on the Land Registry and Commercial Register entries, and the appointment of a guardian (Beistand) to protect Chiara K.'s interests. This is the phase in which the story becomes complicated a second time. Because politics now became involved.

Intervention by the Cantonal Government
As early as December 2015, Chiara K.'s mother sent a warning letter to the Oberägeri municipal administration (Gemeindeverwaltung). She stated that a sale should only be notarised if the necessary corporate resolutions had been made. A year later, Chiara K.'s mother filed a supervisory complaint (Aufsichtsbeschwerde) with the Oberägeri municipal council against Chiara K.'s proxy, Hans G.

All to no avail: on 14th September 2017, the property was sold to a locally well-known ultra-wealthy individual. The purchase price was CHF 16 million, but a study by the real estate consulting firm Wüest Partner estimated the property's actual value at CHF 27 million.

The purchase agreement bears the stamp of the municipality of Oberägeri, but was notarised in Unterägeri. As the property is located in Oberägeri, the Oberägeri notary's office (Notariat) would normally be responsible. But the notary-in-charge recused herself. When later asked for her reasons, she spoke of "rumours" and "half-truths" regarding the matter, and that she didn't want to become "involved in anything." She didn't specify the reasons for her recusal.

About a month after the sale, the Oberägeri municipal council made a precautionary decision regarding the appeal against proxy Hans G. It did restrict his powers and issued him binding instructions, albeit too late. A few months later, the Zug cantonal government (Regierungsrat), as the higher authority, overturned this decision. Hans G.'s powers were expanded again—against the wishes of Chiara K., her legal representative, and her mother, as Chiara K. states.

Chiara K. is barely mentioned in the cantonal government's decision. “I wasn’t heard,” she says. Not in this case — and never in this matter. The public prosecutor (Staatsanwältin) also failed to secure crucial evidence, left questions about the flow of money unanswered, and didn’t interview either her or her mother. “Yet the question of what happened to my ten percent shareholding is crucial for understanding this case.” Chiara K. suspects that they would rather not hear her side of the story. “I have the feeling they want to bury me alive in this matter.”

PUK debate live stream
But Chiara K. refused to be buried. She is now 20 years old and is studying at a Swiss university. She attended high school in Zug, and still has friends and part of her social circle there.

She meticulously informed herself about “her case” and the political discussions surrounding it. She watched the cantonal council debate of 2nd July 2025, which dealt with the question of establishing a PUK (parliamentary investigation commission) via live stream. In an interview with the Zuger Zeitung newspaper, Chiara K. repeatedly mentioned details and specifics.

As a child, she said in retrospect, her shareholding made her a pawn in a game  - a pawn in the machinations of older men. But she now sees herself as an active participant in the matter, and has a clearer understanding. She compares the events to a jigsaw puzzle: "Small pieces fit together to form a larger picture." And the picture is not pretty: Many people in the Canton of Zug are involved, including high-ranking politicians. "It's not that we're manipulating politics, as is often claimed — rather politics has interfered in a private matter," she says.

The events surrounding the notarisation of the purchase agreement, the "reinstatement" of proxy Hans G., and, especially, the role of the cantonal government are now the subject of the parliamentary enquiry. Chiara K. is grateful to the cantonal parliament for establishing this inquiry. But she has no illusions: "Everyone In the canton of Zug knows each other, and many are biased in some way."

Yet Chiara K. hasn't lost hope. "That we can set everything right. That things will turn out the way they should." And that one day she can finally move into Nani's house on Lake Ägeri. Where, as a little girl, she played with her cousins and ate pizza by the lake.

So that none of it feels wrong anymore.