An ethics investigation was conducted against the new Visana CEO

Angelo Eggli, Allianz Partners, soon to be health insurance boss, called himself "Machete" - rude things about foreigners - investigators dismissed.

A major ethics investigation was being conducted at the old location against Angelo Eggli, the designated head of Bernese Visana , one of the largest health insurance companies in the country with 1,300 employees.

It was about Eggli's management style at Allianz Partners, which at the time was still called Allianz Global Assistance , a kind of global TCS with over 10,000 employees.

Eggli, a lawyer by training, took over the reins at the end of 2014 at the Swiss subsidiary of Allianz Partners, based in Wallisellen ZH.

According to several sources, his boss wanted to get rid of him, but then had to leave the field himself. Since then, Eggli has commanded around 300 employees.

The Bernese lawyer quickly replaced almost the entire management and first management level. The goal was to gather yes-men who wouldn't stand up to him, a source says.

Eggli's actions gave internal talks. He gave himself the nickname "Machete". Others were "Uncle Tom", "Lifeguard", the "Doctor". He liked to justify harsh measures with his faith. All must "repent," and a "Catholic repentance."

Eggli's SMS management style was feared by Allianz Partners management. From 10 p.m. when he got off the home trainer, 20 or more text messages should not have been unusual – per night.

There was no respite for Eggli's squad at the weekend either, according to informants. From Saturday morning one was bombarded with orders by mobile phone.

Eggli's management style led to countless work processes. An ex-chief financial officer of his team, who worked for the company for more than 15 years, is still fighting a lawsuit to this day.

In most of the disputes, on the other hand, the justice of the peace was the end of it – the allegations of the alliance manager apparently had too little substance.

Despite this, Eggli continued to litigate. He spent an estimated hundreds of thousands of francs on lawsuits against ex-employees. The goal was non-competition clauses against the people.

Most of the time, Eggli used a partner from the Zurich branch of the Bernese law firm Kellerhals Carrard. In one case, the attorney wrote a 50-page lawsuit. The judge didn't see anything that the ex-squad man could be accused of. The process has been discontinued.

Bad references were piling up on Kununu, a portal for employees to rate their employer. "Sad employer", was the headline in spring 2015, "Unfortunately no longer recommended" was the motto in summer 2016.Working atmosphere in free fall: Employees ( Kununu )

Then something happened that Eggli didn't expect. Adam Mrozowski, who was responsible for IT at Allianz Partners Switzerland from an affiliated company, became a whistleblower.

Mrozowski, a Pole who had had great success as an entrepreneur with his own IT company, raised serious allegations against the Bernese.

On September 9, 2016, the manager asked the Allianz people responsible for ethics and human resources whether Eggli's management style was in line with the Allianz philosophy and the multinational's code of ethics.

"On Wednesday 2.12.2015 we had a management meeting with our CEO Angelo Eggli where he said in front of over 30 department managers the following sentences," explained Mrozowski.

"Stop hiring foreigners! Swiss company can be successful only if it's managed by Swiss people. Nobody in Switzerland wants to deal with foreigners and in my company we must have only Swiss employees otherwise we will not be successful. In my company foreigners will not make careers any more.”

In his email to the Allianz headquarters, the Pole put something even stronger in the mouth of his boss at the time. In a phone conversation this week, Mrozowski confirmed his actions from back then.

"It was clear to me that I had to do something about Angelo Eggli's leadership style," Mrozowski said in the conversation. "It must not be the case that a CEO of a large company like Allianz makes such disparaging and insulting comments about employees"

He was "by no means the only one in the squad" who "saw it that way," said the computer scientist. It was then that he decided to resign. But not without reporting Eggli's leadership style.

Those responsible in the Allianz Group reacted quickly. A kind of task force was formed with the aim of carrying out a secret operation.

Also present: the head of compliance, who was in Paris for historical reasons, the head of human resources who works at the Allianz headquarters in Munich, a forensic scientist, he too from Munich.

Allianz's global head of ethics was also in the picture. Everyone knew what hit it. Operation Eggli could begin.

November 4, 2016 was high noon. 5 people from Allianz stayed at the Hotel Krone in Zurich Unterstrass. Three of them went to Allianz in Wallisellen as a kind of raid squad and informed Eggli and his management about the investigation.

Two received those affected at the hotel. They described their experiences with Eggli. Long protocols were signed, SMS and other pieces of evidence were collected.

After that it got quiet. Eggli stayed in his chair. Several weeks later, it was said that the investigation had revealed nothing serious.

Incomprehensible to whistleblower Mrozowski. “Shortly after the investigation, the head of compliance in Paris was dismissed. And I was offered a job far away from Angelo Eggli. But Eggli stayed. His results in business made him unassailable.”

Now the numbers have gotten worse. The so-called combined ratio, which shows how efficiently an insurance company works, has deteriorated significantly.

Not part of the investigation was Eggli's business practice. He ran Allianz data on a partner's external server . The costs for this amounted to several tens of thousands of francs. It was just a minor effort.

A spokeswoman for Allianz in Munich wrote that they would "basically ... not comment on internal matters". Eggli comments as follows:

"At Allianz Partners Switzerland there have been 3 employer terminations in the last 5 years, in the context of which claims have been asserted before the magistrate or labor court. In none of the cases, which were all settled amicably, was an unlawful or abusive termination of the contract found.”

Regarding his leadership style with nicknames, he says: "That's not correct. However, we are aware of fake text messages in this context.”

Regarding the SMS orders to employees around the clock and how this fits into the future management task at the health insurer Visana, Eggli says:

“Allianz Partners (formerly Allianz Global Assistance) operates a 24/7 emergency call and assistance center where we help people who are in emergency situations around the clock. So our business runs around the clock. That will no longer be the case with my new employer.”

After all, he doesn't feel burdened by the Allianz headquarters' investigation because of his leadership style, but completely relieved.

“Due to allegations by a senior employee who has been terminated against the company and against me as CEO of the Swiss unit, the compliance department at the headquarters in France had to launch an internal investigation ex officio. The comprehensive investigations showed that all the allegations in the room were unfounded and I was fully exonerated.”