Switzerland’s parliamentary body has proposed the name of the head of Bern’s canton police to fill the vacancy of the Switzerland attorney General. The role of the top prosecutor in the country has been left vacant for almost a year now.
Parliament’s judicial commission has voted without any defection to name Stefan Blaettler, head of police in the capital city of Switzerland to become the new federal prosecutor. He has been acting on his existing office since 2006.
Parliament’s judicial commission went through a rigorous evaluation process and hearing held in two stages to find that Mr Blaettler qualifications fit the job title and responsibilities related to it. The commission reviewed a dozen applications for the position as revealed by the commission in a statement.
The position has been left vacant after the former attorney general’s resignation last year. The court found Michael Lauber guilty of graft and unwarranted exploitation of his office. It was alleged that he met FIFA’s head Gianni Infantino in secret while he was being investigated for acts of corruption in the soccer’s governing body. He covered up for the meeting and lied to supervisors while an impeachment process against him was processing. Lauber has been serving as the attorney general since 2012.
The parliament was unable to decide on a name since last August. As a consequence, the position was left vacant for over a year. They could not mutually agree on one candidate after applications were sifted through the stages of the selection process.
Micheal Lauber agreed to resign instead of getting impeached amid allegations of him botching up the investigation process into graft accusation in world football’s premier institution. The court also dropped its charges.
Parliament’s judicial committee said that the process of initiating impeachment against Lauber has become infructuous as he has already resigned from the office. Lauber even shortened his notice period by five months after it was approved by the committee. Thus, the country was saved from impeaching the attorney general.
A special prosecutor is investigating both former attorney general and head of FIFA over graft accusations. However, both of them have denied that they met in any undocumented meetings.
Two of the Lauber’s deputies are discharging his duties after he stepped down and will continue to do so until a new successor is selected. The commission considered Blaettler as fit to become the next attorney general as he is well-versed in three widely spoken languages of Switzerland and fluent English.
His experience and knowledge in law enforcement make him eligible for the post of attorney general. His appointment will be confirmed after voting in parliament. He also teaches law and criminology at the University of Bern’s Law Institute.
