Economics minister broke parliamentary rules

The Swiss economics minister broke parliamentary rules on transparency Keystone

Economics Minister Johann Schneider-Ammann breached parliamentary laws on transparency during his time as a member of the House of Representatives, by not declaring he was on the board of directors for the offshore company, Manilux.

Although his position was correctly declared on a parliamentary register of outside interests until 2003, it then disappeared off the list.

The findings from the investigation, carried out by the parliamentary services, into the economics minister’s position with the Luxembourg-based firm, were confirmed by the parliamentary body’s spokesman Mark Stucki after a report in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung newspaper on Saturday.

The parliamentarian should have declared his involvement with the subsidiary Manilux either individually or as part of an entry on the Ammann construction group as a whole.

Stucki commented that their conclusion would not have any consequences for Schneider-Ammann, as he is no longer in the House of Representatives and it was only a minor breach of rules governing parliamentarians’ conduct.

The company, which is a subsidiary of the Ammann construction group, came under the spotlight after allegations on Swiss public television SRF led to an investigation into the group’s offshore sectors by the Bernese tax authorities in January.

The Ammann Group belongs to the family of Schneider-Ammann’s wife.

In early February the group revealed that the tax investigation had uncovered no evidence of wrongdoing.