BERN (Reuters) – Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber attended a meeting of the parliamentary judicial committee on Wednesday to answer questions about how he handled an investigation into corruption at soccer body FIFA.
Lauber, who was narrowly re-elected for another four-year term last year, has been accused by anti-corruption campaigners of bungling a fraud trial over payments linked to the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
The judicial committee said in a statement earlier in May: “For his part, Michael Lauber denies the form and content of the accusations made against him and accuses the AB-BA of numerous procedural errors, exceeding its authority, and bias, among other things.”
The judicial committee will decide on Wednesday whether to press ahead with impeachment proceedings, which would result in a joint meeting of Switzerland’s two houses of parliament voting on whether he should keep his job.
If removed, Lauber will be the first Swiss national official to be impeached since the federal state of Switzerland was established in 1848.
(Reporting by Arnd Wiegmann, writing by John Revill, editing by Michelle Martin)
