The timing couldn’t be worse for newly-appointed Swiss President Alain Berset.
(Bloomberg) — The timing couldn’t be worse for newly-appointed Swiss President Alain Berset.
As politicians and CEOs gather in Switzerland for Davos, Berset is facing political pressure and uncomfortable headlines over allegations his former communications chief leaked government information about the Covid pandemic to the boss of Blick, the country’s biggest tabloid newspaper.
The first news report broke on Saturday in the weekly Schweiz am Wochenende. Then Tages-Anzeiger, one of the most popular Swiss-German broadsheets, on Tuesday posed the question on some politicians’ minds with an article headlined “Should Alain Berset Resign?”
It went on to outline how the government is now investigating the issue to determine whether the former communications chief leaked any secrets, or if Berset, who was health minister throughout the pandemic and selected as president just last month, was trying to influence news coverage of the government’s handling of Covid-19.
In a statement, Blick rejected the allegations.
So far, politicians from both sides of the political spectrum appear to be calling for further investigation, not Berset’s resignation. Marco Chiesa, head of the right-wing Swiss People’s Party, was quoted by Tages-Anzeiger as calling for a “complete clarification” of the situation, and that “this incident undermines the credibility of the media and of Federal Councilor Berset.”
The liberal FDP party said it’s a “serious problem” if the confidentiality of documents produced by the governing federal council can’t be guaranteed, according to Tages-Anzeiger, while the Greens’ party leader called this a “systematic breach of official secrecy” that is “wrong and unacceptable.”
Berset has survived previous scandals, however this is arguably the most serious yet. In an interview with the Swiss national broadcaster SRF, he said it wouldn’t be appropriate to comment on an ongoing criminal proceeding.
“We must let justice do its work,” he told SRF.
Vaccine Procurement
The recent headlines around the possible leaks have also prompted fresh questions about the possibility of illegal stock exchange transactions related to Switzerland’s vaccine procurement.
The federal prosecutor’s office is making “necessary clarifications” before commenting on the matter, Tages-Anzeiger reported, suggesting that meant that criminal proceedings hadn’t yet been opened.
The questions around possible illegal stock transactions were first raised by financial news blog Inside Paradeplatz in early 2021, Tages-Anzeiger said. A spokesman for Swiss finance regulator Finma said it gathered information from various stakeholders in the case at the time and completed an initial investigation.
“No regulatory proceedings were initiated,” the Finma spokesman said, adding he couldn’t comment on the scope for any criminal charges being laid. Finma subsequently decided to make further clarifications and those are still running, he said.
(Adds statements from Swiss finance regulator from penultimate paragraph.)
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