Greetings from the Mirage scandal: 5 things you need to know about a possible crypto-PUK
More and more politicians do not want to leave the crypto scandal clear to the Federal Council and call for a PUK. That is behind the sharpest weapon that Parliament has.
The espionage scandal surrounding Zuger Crypto AG shakes Switzerland. For years, the CIA and the German intelligence service have intercepted over 100 countries via the Crypto AG company in Zug. For once, even SVP doyen Christoph Blocher and the SP / Greens agree. They demand that the role of the Swiss intelligence service and the Federal Council be clarified using a PUK. “If there is a serious suspicion that federal councilors knew about this, this must be investigated by an external body, and it may even need a PUK,” Blocher told Tamedia.
The most important questions and answers:
What are the chances of a PUK?
Be it Swissair grounding, the UBS affair, Insieme IT debacle or the postbus scandal: in all cases, the PUK demands failed in parliament. There has been no PUK for over 20 years.
The chances are not bad in the crypto affair: with the votes of the SP, Greens, SVP and FDP (plus some green liberals), a PUK would be majority-capable in both the National Council and the Council of States. However, the parties have not yet discussed the matter in depth. The two chambers could use the PUK in the spring session.
What is the power of a PUK?
A PUK is the most powerful means of supervision of the federal administration. It can be used when “events of great scope require clarification”. And with the ultimate consequence.
- Among other things, it can view minutes of Federal Council meetings.
- View documents classified as secret and conduct interviews.
- She can also appoint an investigator.
- The PUK cannot judge for itself: it is not a criminal court or a disciplinary authority.
- The PUK writes a final report. Then the PUK is dissolved.
What is the difference to the espionage supervision (GPDel)?
On Wednesday evening, GPdel President Alfred Heer (SVP) announced that the business audit delegation (GPdel) would immediately start hearings on the machinations of Crypto AG. The investigation was officially launched on Thursday. The GPdel is the supervisory authority of the intelligence services.
The GPdel basically has the same powers as a PUK. Nevertheless, Balthasar Glättli demands a PUK from the Greens: «The role of the oversight of the secret service must also be clarified. The GPdel cannot issue a personal license itself, »he said to SRF.
Which scandals did PUK occur?
Mirage affair
In the spring of 1964, the planned procurement of 100 Mirage fighters went completely out of control due to cost overruns. Parliament pulled the emergency brake at the last second. Thanks to a PUK: A 138-page investigation report mercilessly showed the mismanagement. The report resulted in only 57 fighter jets being ordered instead of 100. In addition, the heads of Chief of Staff Jakob Annashon and Etienne Primeault, Chief of Arms of the Air Force, rolled. Federal Councilor Chaudet later resigned bitterly.
Elisabeth Kopp / Fichenskandal
The fiche affair was exposed by a PUK over 30 years ago. The commission was asked to shed light on the background of the telephone conversation between the then Minister of Justice, Elisabeth Kopp, and her husband. Kopp had warned her husband of an investigation into a money laundering case and advised him to step down from the board of directors of a suspected company.
The extent of the fiche affair then became clear in the PUK report: over 900,000 people had been fixed. The outrage was great: on March 3, 1990, around 30,000 people demonstrated in Bern against the “sniffing state”.
EMD affair
There was great outrage when a secret resistance organization named P-26 was exposed in the course of the 1990 Fichen affair. In the event of a communist occupation of Switzerland, it should have been active underground. In its 277-page report, a parliamentary commission of inquiry (PUK EMD) came to the conclusion that the P-26 posed a potential threat to the constitutional order. The media and politicians spoke of an illegal “secret army”.
insurance fund
The fourth PUK to examine the Federal Insurance Fund was more of a parliamentary form of dealing with the past. The Federal Pension Fund (PKB) has had to deal with major problems in the areas of leadership and organization, IT and finance since the early 1980s. In the accounting, millions of euros could not be proven. According to the final report, the main responsibility for the debacle in the PKB was borne by the former head of the EVS and the two former directors of the Federal Insurance Fund, to which the PKB belonged.
What is the Federal Council doing?
Oberholzer (left) examining the fiche affair. Image: KEYSTONE
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The Federal Council has known about the machinations of Krytpo AG since November. In January the state government decided to commission old federal judge Niklaus Oberholzer to conduct an investigation. He has a lot of experience with delicate matters: He was a member of the PUK, which examined the Fichen affair.
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