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A first candidate is known to succeed Michael Lauber. In Geneva, he got the prosecutor back on track: his inflexible methods are controversial.
Who moves to the Guisanplatz in Bern? The position of federal prosecutor is currently up for grabs.
Sometimes what doesn’t happen is more revealing than what happens. On February 3 of this year it became clear that Olivier Jornot could remain as Attorney General of the Canton of Geneva for another term. More interesting, however, was that Jornot was ratified by silent vote, despite the fact that the Geneva constitution provides for a popular election. Despite an intensive search, no one could be found who wanted to get in the way of the 51-year-old; the venture would have been too desperate.
Jornot is firmly in the saddle in Geneva, but now the canton has apparently become too small for him. As “Le Temps” revealed on Sunday night, the “most feared man in Geneva”, as he is sometimes called, wants to become a federal prosecutor and thus a successor to the disgraced Michael Lauber. He is the only known candidate so far. Who is the magistrate in German-speaking Switzerland, as opposed to French-speaking Switzerland, which only fans of justice would recognize on the street?
Jornot showed particular ambition from the start. For an attorney general, however, you have an unusual background. He did not move up the professional career within the prosecutor’s office, but he worked as a lawyer for many years and was also politically active. He presided over the Geneva Liberals (which later became part of the FDP), led the party in the Grand Council as the leader of the parliamentary group and even wanted to become Councilor of State. In 2008, however, he failed in the party’s march.
Machine”
Jornot’s time came when the Geneva prosecutor’s office plunged into one of the deepest crises in its history in 2011; The parallels with the current situation at the federal level cannot be denied. An outside person tidying up the store with a heavy hand was helpful. Because whoever I talk to about Jornot: no one would describe him, the Swiss army colonel, as a weak leader. In contrast, the multilingual Jornot is considered extremely demanding, power-hungry, assertive, even authoritarian. At the same time, supporters and opponents alike acknowledge his extraordinarily quick conception, his rhetorical brilliance, and his zeal for work. A long-time employee calls it a “machine,” and he says it positively and consistently.
The waves within the Geneva prosecutor’s office have long since eased, the agency works, too well, if you ask its political opponents. In other words, the prosecution is shooting sparrows with cannons by taking a disproportionate number of petty offenders into custody, according to the complaint. “Olivier Jornot has a clearly too repressive vision of criminal law,” says lawyer Pierre Bayenet, who is a candidate for “Ensemble à gauche” in the cantonal parliament and failed in the 2014 popular elections for the position of Attorney General against Jornot. The notoriously overcrowded Champ Dollon prison is the best evidence of this “failed policy,” he says.
This category also includes an episode that caused a sensation in Geneva at the end of last year. Simon Brandt, at the time the FDP’s Grand Councilor and leading candidate for city council, was rudely pulled from his apartment by several police officers early one morning, taken to the police station and taken into custody. He even had to endure a humiliating body search. He was accused of violating official secrecy, but the accusations evaporated. The process was interrupted a bit later. However, the political damage to Brandt, who soon failed in subsequent executive elections, was done. Brandt responded with a complaint for abuse of power against the executing police officers; However, Jornot had signed the search warrant. The process is pending.
Power hungry and assertive: Olivier Jornot.
Regardless of its outcome, the incident shows another pattern of Jornot’s tenure, especially from the past three years: He is not afraid to step on the feet of those in power. The fact that representatives of his own party were repeatedly in the spotlight shows his independence, which does not only exist on paper.
Without fear of contact with the powerful
Criminal proceedings have been ongoing for more than two years against State Councilor Pierre Maudet due to his luxury trip to Abu Dhabi, which will likely lead to a trial soon. A loss in court would also be a personal loss for the Attorney General. But Jornot hasn’t just focused on the former high-flying FDP pilot, who was kicked out of the party over the affair, for a long time.
In the same criminal case, Jornot summoned another State Councilor, Serge Dal Busco, and has investigated several Geneva councilors who had incurred excessive spending (the case was closed after they had reimbursed large sums). And in 2015 he had the Bank HSBC premises registered in the Rhonestadt in an internationally acclaimed campaign. The criminal proceedings for qualified money laundering ended after a few months because HSBC agreed to a compensation payment of 40 million francs to the canton of Geneva.
Bottom line: Anyone who, because of Jornot’s career, feared that he, as a prosecutor, might have reservations about the economic and political elite, learned better. These are qualities that are also vitally important to the federal prosecutor’s office. Jornot himself apparently dares to take over. How he intends to improve the tarnished image of the Federal Prosecutor’s Office, he keeps to himself for now. Currently, the attorney general does not comment on his candidacy, he only says on request. As of October 28 it will be more talkative, at least behind closed doors, then the parliamentary judicial commission will lean on the explosive personal file for the first time.
