New Swiss attorney general faces huge re-organisation task

Blättler, left, holds a doctorate in law and was the only candidate put forward by the parliamentary commission for the position of attorney general. Keystone / Peter Klaunzer

The election of Stefan Blättler ends a difficult search for a new attorney general, arguably the most powerful position in Switzerland’s justice system. He faces a formidable task of re-organising the prosecutor’s office.

The former police commander won 206 votes (of a total of 208 votes) in a joint session of both chambers of parliament on Wednesday and is elected for a four-year term.

He was the only candidate, and although the result seems unspectacular, there is quite a bit more to the story than meets the eye.

Blättler, who earned a doctorate in law from the University of Neuchâtel, is credited for implementing a major overhaul of the Bern cantonal police force, which he led from 2006.

It took three attempts for parliament to find a successor to Michael Lauber, the former attorney general who was forced to resign over his handling of a probe into world football’s governing body FIFA.

The affair over undocumented meetings between Lauber and the FIFA president amid investigations into cases of alleged corruption have caused considerable damage to Switzerland’s reputation.

Two previous rounds had come to nothing as all the potential candidates had either declined, or apparently didn’t fit the profile required for the job. The prestigious Neue Zürcher Zeitung(NZZ) newspaper described the 12-month search as a “fiasco”.

Twice in a row the parliamentary committee responsible for the succession couldn’t present a list of candidates to the plenary session. Only the nomination of the 62-year-old Blättler and parliament’s decision to extend the retirement age for an attorney general to 68 – three years more than customary – paved the way for the successful election.

Complex task

The office of the attorney general of SwitzerlandExternal link is not only responsible for investigating and prosecuting offences against state security or major state interests.

It also handles cases of international organised crime, including terrorism and its financing, money laundering and corruption. In addition, it deals with requests for mutual assistance from foreign prosecution authorities.

The office conducts its criminal investigations in cooperation with the federal police and cantonal law enforcement authorities under Switzerland’s federal system, which gives the 26 cantons wide-ranging autonomy.

These tasks are specified in Switzerland’s criminal code and other national legislation. They are not a simple set of tasks, as experts have pointed out, given the complexity of many cases of international dimensions.

The post of attorney general is considered one of the most powerful positions in the state. The office holder can decide alone, unlike Swiss government ministers, who are part of a seven-member cabinet.

The office is an autonomous authority overseen by a watchdog body from outside the administration. It is the result of a reform which removed it from the justice ministry.

Critics argue that the unique concentration of power to order or suspend investigations makes the attorney general also potentially prone to external interference or corruption attempts.

Hot seat

A priority for Blättler is most likely to steer the prosecutor’s office into calmer waters following months of turbulence.

Moves are underway in parliament to re-organise the office, possibly restricting its powers and reducing the size of its 250-strong staff at four different sites across the country.

Among the ideas mooted is a proposal to let the cantonal prosecutor’s offices again handle white collar crimes, including corruption, money laundering and fraud cases and re-establish a structure in place until 1999.

Other aspects of potential reform include the role of parliament in the election, the powers of the watchdog body overseeing the activities of the attorney general, and the organisational structure of the office.

The post of Swiss attorney general is a hot seat as the past five decades have shown. Four of the last eight office holders resigned under a cloud after coming under heavy pressure for alleged poor management or illegal activities, notably the scandal over a vast surveillance system of the population.

This makes apparent that the office has more to do than solve a problem at the top, as the NZZ newspaper put it in a report last January.