Swiss President and Former Minister of Health Alain Berset Under Investigation by Attorney General Over COVID Crimes
Newly-appointed Swiss President and former Minister of Health Alain Berset is under investigation over media leaks involving planned Covid-19 measures, dubbed “Bersetgate” and “Coronaleaks” by Swiss media.
In January, the Swiss parliament decided to investigate Alain Berset, who was Minister of Health at the time, for leaking information about government measures during the height of the pandemic, France24 reported.
The investigation will focus on “numerous indiscretions concerning government affairs related to the Covid-19 pandemic”, the parliament’s control committee said in a statement.
The parliamentary investigation will be conducted by a special working group tasked to “clarify which transgressions have been committed in connection with government activities connected to the Covid epidemic.”
This comes after Berset’s former communications chief leaked government information about the Covid pandemic to the boss of Blick, the country’s biggest tabloid newspaper, Bloomberg reported.
According to reports, the information was leaked to one of Switzerland’s largest news media about confidential government plans in an attempt to influence news coverage of the government’s handling of Covid-19.
However, Blick rejected the allegations.
“The Blick editorial team therefore firmly rejects this representation and formally rejects the allegations. It is true that the Blick editorial team researches and works independently of the publisher and group. We have not received any instructions from anyone, including the CEO. We also firmly deny the accusation that we allowed ourselves to be influenced by the interior department,” Blick said in a statement.
Bloomberg reported:
The recent headlines around the possible leaks have also prompted fresh questions about the possibility of illegal stock exchange transactions related to Switzerland’s vaccine procurement.
The federal prosecutor’s office is making “necessary clarifications” before commenting on the matter, Tages-Anzeiger reported, suggesting that meant that criminal proceedings hadn’t yet been opened.
The questions around possible illegal stock transactions were first raised by financial news blog Inside Paradeplatz in early 2021, Tages-Anzeiger said. A spokesman for Swiss finance regulator Finma said it gathered information from various stakeholders in the case at the time and completed an initial investigation.
“No regulatory proceedings were initiated,” the Finma spokesman said, adding he couldn’t comment on the scope for any criminal charges being laid. Finma subsequently decided to make further clarifications and those are still running, he said.
On December 2, retired Swiss banker Pascal
Source: The Gateway Pundit
