Michael Lauber

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Michael Christoph Lauber (born December 12, 1965 in Olten ; resident in Winterthur and Lucerne ) is a Swiss lawyer . From 2012 to the end of August 2020 he was the Federal Prosecutor of Switzerland and thus the chief of the Federal Prosecutor's Office .

Professional background

In 1992 Michael Lauber completed his law studies at the University of Bern and was admitted to the bar . He is a member of the Zofingia student association . In the Swiss Army he was most recently in command of an armored staff company with the rank of captain .

From 1992 to 1993 he was an examining magistrate in the canton of Bern , then until 1995 head of the special investigation I of the Bern criminal police. He then headed the Central Office for Organized Crime at the Federal Office of Police for five years until 2000 . From 2000 to 2001 he worked as a lawyer in Zurich and was the managing director of PolyReg, a self-regulatory organization of financial intermediaries .

From 2001 Lauber worked in the Principality of Liechtenstein . Until 2004 he was head of the Money Laundering Reporting Office (“Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU)”) and from 2004 to 2010 he was the managing director of the Liechtenstein Bankers Association (LBV). From the beginning of 2010 to the end of 2011 he was President of the Supervisory Board of the Liechtenstein Financial Market Authority (FMA).

Lauber was also a money laundering evaluator for Russia , Cyprus , Oman , Luxembourg and Monaco as well as an expert on serious economic crime , organized crime and money laundering in various projects of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank in Central Asia . He was a speaker at various national and international bodies and forums on the subject of money laundering and a lecturer at the University of Liechtenstein .

On September 28, 2011, the United Federal Assembly elected him Federal Prosecutor for the 2012–2015 term of office with 203 out of 206 valid votes on the proposal of the Judicial Commission of the Federal Councils. He replaced Erwin Beyeler , who was not re-elected in June 2011. On June 17, 2015, Lauber was confirmed in office for the term of office from 2016 to 2019 with 195 out of 216 valid votes.

Process complex world football

In 2015, Lauber opened proceedings against four members of the organizing committee of the 2006 World Cup in Germany . The procedures should clarify whether disputed payments to u. a. the then Vice-President of FIFA in Qatar had traded in buying votes for the World Cup to be awarded to Germany. Among other things, it was about TV rights deals that the later FIFA President Gianni Infantino had signed as UEFA chief lawyer.

In June 2019, the Federal Criminal Court criticized the administration of Lauber in the complex of football proceedings. In particular, the court reprimanded secret meetings with FIFA President Infantino, which von Lauber had described as informal. Lauber had not recorded the meetings with Infantino. As early as May 2019, the supervisory authority of the Federal Prosecutor's Office (AB-BA) opened a disciplinary investigation against Lauber in connection with the criticized meeting.

For the re-election of September 25, 2019 by the United Federal Assembly for the 2020–2023 term of office, the Parliament's Judicial Commission recommended with 9 to 6 votes with one abstention not to re-elect Lauber. According to the commission, Lauber grossly negligently violated his official duties by meeting with FIFA President Infantino. Lauber received support from the Swiss Public Prosecutor's Conference (SSK) and from the SVP and the FDP parliamentary group , who recommended Lauber for re-election. A narrow majority in the SP parliamentary group also spoke out in favor of re-election, while the parliamentary groups of the CVP and the Greens did not recommend voting. Lauber was re-elected on September 25 with just 129 of 243 valid votes, the absolute majority required for re-election was 122 votes.

At the beginning of March 2020, the AB-BA's disciplinary proceedings against Lauber were concluded. The supervisory authority charged Lauber with, among other things, a violation of Article 77 of the Code of Criminal Procedure regarding the obligation to keep records, a violation of the Federal Prosecutor's Code of Conduct (prohibition of acting in conflict of interests), a breach of duty of loyalty, disloyal behavior and an obstruction of the disciplinary investigation. In essence, Lauber shows “a wrong understanding of the profession”. Due to the established breaches of official duties, the AB-BA imposed the “sanction of a wage loss of 8% for a period of one year”. This sanction did not go far enough for the Swiss press. For example, the Handelszeitung commented : "This homeopathic punishment is outrageous."

Nevertheless, Michael Lauber filed a complaint with the Federal Administrative Court against the decreed wage cut on April 22, 2020 . He fully denied the "allegations and evaluations" made against him and described individual statements by the AB-BA as "pure insinuation". On April 28, 2020, BDP National Councilor Lorenz Hess took Lauber's complaint as an opportunity to apply for impeachment proceedings against Lauber. SP National Councilor Matthias Aebischer , Vice President of the Judicial Commission of the Federal Council, had previously announced similar steps. The Green Party also called for the impeachment to be initiated.

The professor of criminal law and anti-corruption expert Mark Pieth said in an interview that Lauber was undermining the “credibility of Swiss criminal prosecution”. Lauber does not understand «that he has a public function and that in Switzerland as a state employee you have to answer to the people. The supervisory authority practically represents the people. " Pieth, as well as numerous commentators in the press, criticized that the case of the alleged bribe payments in connection with the football World Cup 2006 became statute-barred due to delayed proceedings without a judgment being issued.

After a hearing from Lauber, the judicial commission of the United Federal Assembly decided to initiate impeachment proceedings against Lauber.

The business audit commissions of the National Council and the Council of States , which are responsible for the overall parliamentary supervision of the AB-BA and the Federal Prosecutor, examined the “supervisory relationship between the Federal Prosecutor's Office and its supervisory authority” in a report dated June 24, 2020. They state in the report that the behavior of the federal prosecutor "corresponds to a false supervisory understanding" in that he "tends to show difficulty in accepting supervisory actions by the AB-BA that have not previously been agreed with him by consensus". The Federal Prosecutor “must be required to show his supervisory authority the necessary respect. From this point of view it is untenable, for example, if the Federal Prosecutor no longer appears at the supervisory meetings because of his conflict with the supervisory authority or if he attacks his supervisory authority head-on at a media conference. "

After the Federal Administrative Court had partially approved Lauber's complaint, but confirmed the main points of the AB-BA, Lauber announced his resignation on July 24, 2020. He then resigned at the end of August 2020. The ongoing impeachment proceedings became irrelevant and the parliamentary judicial commission formally closed them with effect from September 1, 2020.

Criminal proceedings are to be opened against Lauber regardless of his resignation. The specially appointed Extraordinary Public Prosecutor Stefan Keller, President of the Higher and Administrative Court of the Canton of Obwalden, applied to Parliament in July 2020 to lift Lauber's immunity. The Legal Commission of the Council of States and the Immunity Commission of the National Council approved this application with a large majority at the end of August 2020. At the end of July 2020, the public prosecutor opened criminal proceedings against Gianni Infantino and the Valais senior public prosecutor, Rinaldo Arnold, who took part in the meeting. She sees signs of criminal behavior such as abuse of office (Art. 312 StGB), violation of official secrecy (Art. 320 StGB) and favoritism (Art. 305 StGB), or, in the case of Infantino, signs of inciting these offenses.

Personal

Lauber is the son of a pastor and a mathematician. He is independent and lives with his partner in a registered partnership in Zurich.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Michael Lauber , Internationales Biographisches Archiv 32/2012 of August 7, 2012, in the Munzinger Archive , accessed on September 28, 2012 ( beginning of the article freely available)
  2. ↑ a b 11.213 b Federal Prosecutor. Elected for the 2012–2015 term of office. Report of the Judicial Commission of August 24, 2011
  3. ↑ a b c Michael Lauber. ( Memento from September 29, 2011 on WebCite ) CV in: Liechtenstein Financial Market Authority (FMA) , accessed on September 29, 2011 (PDF file, archive version)
  4. ↑ The Federal Prosecutor - Against tax investigators, money launderers and war criminals. In: Zofingia Basel from November 12, 2012
  5. ↑ Sandro Brotz : Security check: How resilient is the new federal prosecutor? In: The Sunday of August 27, 2011
  6. ↑ a b c The Federal Assembly elects Michael Lauber as Federal Prosecutor . In: Swissinfo of September 28, 2011
  7. ^ Hubert Mooser: A late victory over Valentin Roschacher. In: Tages-Anzeiger .ch / Newsnet from August 25, 2011
  8. ↑ a b Michael Lauber is to become the new federal prosecutor. ( Memento from April 8, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) In: Schweizer Fernsehen from August 24, 2011
  9. ^ Further term of office for Federal Prosecutor Lauber. In: SRF 1 from June 17, 2015
  10. ^ Because of the meeting with Infantino: Federal Prosecutor biased. Tagesschau, June 18, 2019.
  11. ↑ Federal Prosecutor's Office and FIFA held secret talks every day. Tages-Anzeiger, April 27, 2020.
  12. ↑ It is getting tight for Federal Prosecutor Michael Lauber. Neue Zürcher Zeitung of June 18, 2019, accessed on July 5, 2019.
  13. ↑ Lauber's secret meeting with Infantino has consequences. In: Tages-Anzeiger of May 10, 2019, accessed on September 26, 2019.
  14. ↑ Christof Forster: Federal Prosecutor Lauber makes up ground. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung of September 24, 2019, accessed on September 24, 2019.
  15. ↑ Public prosecutors demand Lauber's re-election. In: Blick.ch from September 6, 2019, accessed on September 24, 2019.
  16. ↑ Sarah Serafini: Curtain up for the federal prosecutor? The Lauber case - a drama in 5 acts. In: Watson.ch of September 24, 2019, accessed on September 24, 2019.
  17. ↑ Federal Prosecutor Lauber was just re-elected. In: srf.ch from September 25, 2019, accessed on September 26, 2019.
  18. ^ Order of March 2, 2020 in disciplinary proceedings regarding Federal Prosecutor Michael Lauber. Supervisory authority for the Federal Prosecutor's Office, March 2, 2020.
  19. ↑ Michael Lauber is intolerable. Handelszeitung, March 4, 2020.
  20. ↑ Federal Prosecutor Lauber does not accept wage cuts. Swiss radio and television, April 22, 2020.
  21. ^ Demands for Michael Lauber's impeachment are growing louder. Neue Zürcher Zeitung, April 28, 2020.
  22. ↑ Impeachment proceedings against Federal Prosecutor Lauber applied for. swissinfo.ch, April 28, 2020.
  23. ↑ Greens have had enough of the federal prosecutor and are demanding impeachment. Aargauer Zeitung, April 9, 2020.
  24. ↑ "The allegations against Federal Prosecutor Lauber are fierce, but they are probably correct - his hand-knitted method can permanently damage Switzerland's reputation." Neue Zürcher Zeitung, April 27, 2020.
  25. ↑ We, the Banana Republic: How the Swiss criminal justice system became a mockery internationally. Aargauer Zeitung, April 28, 2020.
  26. ↑ Parliamentary Services : Judicial Commission GK. In: Parliamentary Dictionary. Retrieved July 1, 2020 .
  27. ↑ NZZ.ch May 20, 2020: The court commission opens impeachment proceedings against Federal Prosecutor Lauber.
  28. ^ Parliamentary Services : Business Audit Commissions GPK. In: Parliamentary Dictionary. Retrieved July 1, 2020 .
  29. ↑ Audit commissions of the National Council and Council of States: supervisory relationship between the Federal Prosecutor's Office and its supervisory authority. June 24, 2020, p. 59 , accessed on July 1, 2020 .
  30. ↑ NZZ.ch July 24, 2020: Federal Prosecutor Michael Lauber resigns.
  31. ↑ Michael Lauber will definitely go at the end of August , Neue Zürcher Zeitung, August 19, 2020.
  32. ↑ Lauber's immunity is definitely lifted , SRF, August 24, 2020.
  33. ↑ Criminal proceedings against Fifa President Infantino opened , faz.net, July 30, 2020
  34. ^ Application for the waiver of the immunity of Federal Prosecutor Michael Lauber and opening of criminal proceedings against Gianni Infantino , press release of the Swiss Federal Council, July 30, 2020
  35. ↑ Sandro Brotz : “When I do yoga, I think of money laundering”. ( Memento from April 3, 2012 on WebCite ) Interview in: Der Sonntag of March 31, 2012 (archive version)
  36. ↑ Thomas Knellwolf: The smart mafia hunter and critic of majesty. In: Tages-Anzeiger of September 24, 2011


predecessor Office successor
Erwin Beyeler Federal Prosecutor of the Swiss Confederation
2012– 		-
personal data
SURNAME Lauber, Michael
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lauber, Michael Christoph (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss lawyer and federal prosecutor
DATE OF BIRTH December 12, 1965
PLACE OF BIRTH Olten