– The MPC did not give preferential treatment to Alain Berset
The report of the Parliament’s management commissions exonerates the Federal Councilor in the context of the investigation into the blackmail attempt to which he was subjected.
Posted today at 2:08 p.m.—
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Federal Councilor Alain Berset did not receive preferential treatment in the context of the investigation into the blackmail attempt to which he was subjected (archives).
KEYSTONE/PETER KLAUNZER
As part of the investigation into the blackmail attempt to which he was subjected, Alain Berset did not receive preferential treatment from the Public Ministry of the Confederation (MPC). Parliament’s management committees published their report on Tuesday.
The erasure of the data from the electronic devices of the author of the blackmail attempt was correctly carried out, indicate the commissions in their report. The law enforcement authorities have a copy of this data.
However, the report raises a caveat: the MPC Supervisory Authority (AS-MPC) was not informed of the criminal proceedings, which should have been the case due to the public importance of the victim, namely Federal Councilor Alain Berset. The MPC and AS-MPC have now more precisely defined the cases requiring information.
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In addition, the commissions say they do not comment on the fairly large anonymization of the victim and the author in the criminal order, “out of respect for the separation of powers”.
Other suspicions also dismissed
The Federal Judicial Police (PJF) also did not intervene disproportionately in favor of the Federal Councillor, the report states. There was no direct contact between Mr. Berset and the PJF, nor any attempt to exert influence on the intervention system.
Moreover, the Minister’s recourse to the services of collaborators from his staff was minimal and adapted to the circumstances. The time invested did not exceed a few hours, underline the commissions.
The report further concludes that Mr. Berset legally used his company car to return from a private weekend spent in Germany. The trip also had a professional character since the Fribourgeois had to return to Bern to speak on the votes that were taking place in Switzerland that Sunday. That same weekend, he also did not use public funds to pay for his hotel expenses in Germany.
Auditions
To establish their conclusions, the commissions interviewed the Fribourgeois, as well as certain executives within the Federal Department of the Interior. Federal Attorney General Stefan Blättler was also heard.
They also requested several reports, in particular from the AS-MPC, the Federal Office of Police (fedpol) and the Federal Chancellery. They also consulted the file of the criminal proceedings which were carried out against the woman who tried to blackmail Mr. Berset in 2019, which is now closed.
The committees specify that they will resume their work if further clarifications should prove necessary in the future. They ask the Federal Council, the AS-MPC and the MPC to give them an opinion on their report by the summer.
Case settled
The management commissions had opened an investigation last autumn after criticisms reported in the media on the proportionality of the intervention of the special unit “Tigris” of the PJF and according to which the federal councilor had used federal funds in a way abusive.
For the record, the Weltwoche had made public in November 2020 the fact that the MPC had sentenced a woman who tried to blackmail Mr. Berset to a 150-day fine of 30 francs with a two-year suspended sentence. The penalty order was enforceable.
The Fribourgeois then said that it was a “private matter” which was settled. According to this penal order, the woman would have used photos and private correspondence between her and Alain Berset, demanding 100,000 francs, before withdrawing her request. She signed a statement in June 2020 that she agreed to all data being completely erased on her used devices.
