Crans-Montana fire: A Banana Republic in the Swiss Alps

Swiss prosecutors ordered the detention of Jacques Moretti, one of two owners of the ski resort bar where a New Year's Day fire killed 40 people, citing flight risk. 

The move came as authorities intensify their investigation into what increasingly appears to be a catastrophic failure of governance, oversight, and basic safety standards.

Prosecutors are investigating the French owners, Jacques and Jessica Moretti, on suspicion of crimes including homicide by negligence, while victims' families have filed legal complaints over the fire at the "Le Constellation" bar in Crans-Montana in the Canton of Valais. 

More than half of those who died were teenagers, and a further 116 people were injured, many seriously.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni put it bluntly: "What happened in Crans-Montana is the result of too many people not doing their job or thinking they were making easy money. Those responsible must be identified and prosecuted."

She's absolutely right. The responsibility of the Crans-Montana commune appears heavily implicated in this tragedy. No inspection had been carried out at the bar for five years. Let that sink in: a venue packed with young people on one of the busiest nights of the year hadn't been checked for fire safety compliance since 2020.

This isn't mere bureaucratic oversight, it’s criminal negligence masquerading as local governance.

A Banana Republic in the Alps

The Crans-Montana commune operates like a sort of banana republic with cronyism and special privileges. It's not Africa, but almost. 

This isn't a casual comparison, it’s an indictment of a wealthy Alpine resort that appears to have functioned with the casual disregard for rules and safety that one might expect from a failed state, not one of the world's richest countries.

How does a bar in Switzerland, a nation renowned for precision, order, and regulation, go uninspected for five years? How does highly flammable material end up on the ceiling without anyone noticing? The answer lies in a toxic cocktail of complacency, corruption, and a belief that wealth and connections exempt one from the rules that govern everyone else.

Swiss newspaper reports suggest the commune admitted the venue hadn't been inspected between 2020 and 2025. Authorities never noticed the flammable material applied to the ceiling. This isn't an unfortunate accident, it’s a systematic failure of the most basic governmental responsibility: protecting public safety.

At a national day of mourning ceremony in Martigny on Friday, Swiss President Guy Parmelin declared he hoped those responsible would be brought to account "without delay or leniency." Italian President Sergio Mattarella and French President Emmanuel Macron joined Swiss leaders, victims' families and firefighters to remember the dead.

Meloni has pledged to help Italian victims' families find justice. Her moral clarity stands in contrast to the apparent moral vacuum that governed Crans-Montana's approach to public safety.

In any case, this mountain resort and its leaders will have to answer before justice. 

The question is whether Swiss authorities have the courage to pursue accountability all the way up the chain—from bar owners to building inspectors to municipal officials who created an environment where safety regulations became optional suggestions for the well-connected.

Accountability Without Compromise

Prosecutors must pursue this case without fear or favor. Every official who signed off on inspections that never happened, every regulator who looked the other way, every municipal authority who treated safety as negotiable, all must face consequences.

Switzerland's reputation for excellence, precision, and accountability is on trial alongside the Morettis and the Crans-Montana authorities. 

The world is watching to see whether one of Europe's wealthiest nations will hold its elites to the same standards it demands of others, or whether money and connections will once again shield the guilty from consequences.

The 40 dead, most of them teenagers with their whole lives ahead of them, demand nothing less than complete accountability. Anything less would be a second betrayal, confirming that in Crans-Montana, some lives simply didn't matter enough to enforce the rules.

That would be the real banana republic.