The Swiss authorities and the Federal Council are jointly responsible for the fact that the US secret service was able to spy on the manipulated encryption devices of Crypto AG.
This is recorded by the corporate audit delegation (GPDel).
The focus was on what the Swiss authorities knew.
The Strategic Intelligence Service (SND) had had reliable information on Crypto AG since 1993, according to a report released Tuesday. The SND is a predecessor organization of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND).
According to GPDel investigations, Switzerland also later benefited from the findings of the spying activities of the US secret service CIA, according to the US Then Switzerland also spied.
Oberholzer’s report remains under lock and key
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The content of the Oberholzer report and the GPDel report are identical. The files of the SND and the Oberholzer report have been declared secret and therefore cannot be published.
The Federal Council had commissioned Niklaus Oberholzer, who served as a federal judge until the end of 2019, to clarify the facts. The intelligence agency (AB-ND) welcomed the independent investigation. He hoped to clarify the question of what role the intelligence service played in the matter.
“The fact that SND and the US services acted in concert means that the Swiss authorities share responsibility for the activities of Crypto AG,” the report states.
The federal government shares responsibility
The SND and the CIA were legally permitted to jointly use a company in Switzerland to obtain information about other countries.
“In view of the great political scope of this cooperation”, the GPDel considers it wrong that the Federal Council was not informed of this cooperation until the current head of the DDPS, Viola Amherd.
Nine months he was examined
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GPDel wanted an objective determination of the truth in the matter of cryptocurrencies, as explained by Alfred Heer (SVP / ZH), president of the Delegation of Business Audit (GPDel).
In nine months, the GPDel had heard from 32 current and former members of the federal government. Five serving federal councilors and three former federal councilors were also questioned. “We have written down what we have noticed and seen and what we can prove,” Heer said. “The archives of the stocks of the former strategic intelligence service (SND) were of vital importance.”
The fact that the cooperation between Switzerland and the CIA has been hidden from the Federal Council for so long represents “a lack of leadership and oversight on the part of the Federal Council.” As a result, “the Federal Council shares responsibility for the years of exporting weak products Crypto AG Devices», so GPDel.
Federal Council reaction “illegal”
The Federal Council was not informed of the facts until the fall of 2019. The fact that the Federal Council suspended the general export licenses for the successor companies of Crypto AG is illegal according to GPDel.
Files destroyed
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“People from the Defense Department VBS destroyed files at Crypto AG between 2011 and 2014,” said Alfred Heer.
File destruction is a “permanent problem” with DDPS, Heer said. And: “It’s also not very smart to destroy files” because the claims can no longer be disproved.
“The possibility of a suspension is not foreseen in the law,” said GPDel. Given that this Federal Council decision has effectively blocked the exports of the affected companies since the end of 2019, the GPDel considers that there is also a violation of the principle of good faith.
SP continues to demand PUK
The SP continues to “emphatically” demand a parliamentary inquiry commission (PUK). According to the party, the Federal Council has to clarify three points: first, there are the consequences of the cryptocurrency issue on the credibility of foreign policy. Former NDB director Markus Seiler, who was “deeply involved in the matter,” now works as Secretary General in the Federal Department of Foreign Relations (FDFA).
“Banana Republic gestures”
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“This behavior of the banana republic is unworthy of a constitutional state and must have political and personal consequences,” said Balthasar Glättli, president of the Greens, on the issue of cryptocurrencies. The Greens are also calling for the matter to be dealt with by a parliamentary commission of inquiry.
The Greens are demanding immediate personal consequences from the Federal Council: Markus Seiler as secretary general of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) is untenable, he asked to quote the Keystone-SDA news agency.
Furthermore, the question of the political responsibility of the PS arises. Apparently, the FIS acted without any authorization; The Federal Council and all the control bodies were not informed. Third, the part asks how it is possible that the key files of the matter have disappeared.
This is Cryptoleaks:
In the 1970s, the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) and the United States Foreign Secret Service (CIA) had covertly seized the Crypto AG company in Zug.
Investigations by “Rundschau”, ZDF and “Washington Post” revealed that the encryption devices were manipulated in such a way that the secret services could read the communication.
More than a hundred states are said to have been affected by wiretapping.
That is why #cryptoleaks is not a trivial matter.
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#Cryptoleaks proves for the first time that Zug’s Crypto AG devices have actually been tampered with. But not only:
For the first time, the documents show that the intelligence services CIA and BND (Germany) had seized the Swiss company Crypto AG to spy on third countries from Switzerland.
For the first time there is also evidence of the abundance of events involved (including the Falklands War, the Iran / Iraq War, the coup in Chile).
For the first time, there is evidence showing that representatives of the Swiss secret service participated in the event; previous research came to a different conclusion.
The Federal Council reacted to the “Rundschau” investigation: it immediately suspended the device export license of Crypto International AG (one of the two successor companies of Crypto AG) and launched an investigation into the matter by Niklaus Oberholzer, a former federal judge.
Also as a result of #Cryptoleaks, the left-wing SP and Green parties are now calling for a PUK parliamentary inquiry committee. Furthermore, Petra Gössi, the president of the FDP party, is not averse to a PUK. Now the question arises whether federal employees have violated Switzerland’s neutrality. (permanent)
