Swiss halt inquiry into political espionage case

The Hotel President Wilson in Geneva had hosted talks on Iran’s nuclear work Keystone

Switzerland’s attorney general has stopped an investigation into suspected political espionage at a Geneva hotel. The investigation was opened a month after talks on Iran’s nuclear plans took place there.

There was a lack of evidence about the people behind the spying, the Office of the Attorney General, said on Thursday.

It opened criminal proceedings in May 2015 after malware – harmful software – was discovered on computers in the hotel.

“Investigations revealed that a significant number of computers (servers and clients) at a hotel in Geneva had been infected with a form of malware,” the office said in a statement.

“This malware was developed for the purposes of espionage, and is basically used to gather data from the computers infected.”

A source said the malware was discovered on computers at the Hotel President Wilson, where talks on Iran’s nuclear work had taken place a month before, following a tip-off from the Swiss intelligence services.

The attorney general’s office said it was suspending proceedings because no evidence regarding the perpetrators’ identities had been obtained.