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Parliament’s judicial commission has taken the first step toward impeachment proceedings against federal prosecutor Michael Lauber. She has now invited him to an audience on May 20. Only then will it decide definitively whether to initiate a process of impeachment.
If you are serious about your own principles of action, you have little else to do. The judicial commission was granted the principles of action a few years ago in case it should carry out a political trial against the federal prosecutor.
It says: if she has “justified the suspicion” that the Federal Prosecutor violated her “official duties deliberately or through gross negligence,” she will open an impeachment proceeding. And this reasonable suspicion against Lauber has been on the table since early March.
At that time, the supervision of the Federal Prosecutor’s Office (AB-BA) published its final report on disciplinary proceedings against Federal Prosecutor Lauber.
The supervisory body made serious complaints.
AB-BA concluded that it had violated various official duties. She wrote: «Then he repeatedly told the lie, he acted unfairlyThe Code of Conduct of the Federal Prosecutor’s Office was violated and the AB-BA investigation was prevented. The Federal Prosecutor is also noted for lack of clarity and essentially displays a misprofessional professional understanding. ”
Elsewhere, AB-BA explicitly wrote that certain misconduct was “grossly negligent”. As a result, Lauber challenged the report before the Federal Administrative Court. It basically contradicts AB-BA’s presentation. However, it would be surprising if the judicial commission did not consider AB-BA’s allegations as well-founded suspicions. Therefore, even after the Lauber hearing, the Commission will hardly be able to do anything other than initiate an impeachment process.
Waiting for the federal administrative court?
The question will then be how the judicial commission would proceed with said procedure: will it wait for the decision of the Federal Administrative Court until it finally requests that the United Federal Assembly be dismissed, or not? Or is it not necessary because there are already enough allegations for the Commission to request that Parliament be removed from office relatively quickly? From a legal point of view, it would be more correct to wait for the Federal Administrative Court. But that can take a while.
Therefore, it can also be argued politically that the credibility of the federal prosecutor’s office must be restored as soon as possible. For the credibility of the Federal Prosecutor’s Office, impeachment procedures would be a disaster anyway. Even Lauber’s confidants speak of an impossible situation. Only Lauber himself can end this legal drama with a resignation.
Oliver Washington
Federal Chamber Editor, SRF
