Parliamentary Control Committees are charged with reviewing and examining the conduct of Swiss cabinet, administration and other bodies.
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A parliamentary oversight body will investigate the activities of the Federal Intelligence Service (FIS) in relation to the recent arrest of an alleged Swiss spy in Germany.
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The Parliamentary Control CommitteeExternal link announced Tuesday that it will examine the suspect’s status as a possible source of the FIS, and his alleged involvement in spying on German authorities’ pursuit of tax evaders.
The 54-year-old suspect, a Swiss private investigator and former Zurich police officer known as Daniel M., was arrested in Frankfurt, Germany on April 8. Daniel M. was believed to have been instructed by the FIS to spy on tax inspectors in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, who were attempting to identify tax cheats by collecting data on German clients of Swiss banks.
The committee also aims to find out how the FIS communicated with current finance minister Ueli Maurer, who was head of the defence ministry at the time, and how Maurer himself exercised his oversight of the FIS and in turn informed the cabinet.
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Swiss-German ‘spy’ drama raises hackles – and questions
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His arrest at the end of April prompted a diplomatic spat between the two countries, a deluge of condemnation from the German side and red faces in Switzerland. A Swiss parliamentary commission is investigating the affair – and the media has also been trying hard to put together the scraps of evidence that have so…
It’s a case that has caused tension between Switzerland and Germany, particularly in the absence of concrete answers as to the exact sequence of events. Two weeks ago, the Swiss government confirmed that justice authorities asked the FIS in 2011 to help with a case of stolen banking data that had been sold to Germany, and that the activities ended in 2014, but further details have been hard to come by.
The committee said it would define more clearly its investigation and a timetable at its next meeting.
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Doubts raised about alleged Swiss spy suspect
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A watchdog rejected allegations that the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) was involved in spying activities of the suspect for the Federal Intelligence Service (FIS) or that it failed to black out passages in prosecution files, giving away his identity. In a statement on Wednesday, the OAG watchdog urged other supervisory bodies to cooperate.…
Swiss alleged to have spied inside German tax office
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German investigators believe a mole spied for the Swiss intelligence service inside a German tax office, which was trying to catch German tax dodgers.
Lifting the curtain on the Swiss intelligence service
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The Swiss spy scandal has shone a spotlight on the Intelligence Service. We reveal what it gets up to – and who watches the watchers.
Swiss-German ‘spy’ drama raises hackles – and questions
This content was published on
His arrest at the end of April prompted a diplomatic spat between the two countries, a deluge of condemnation from the German side and red faces in Switzerland. A Swiss parliamentary commission is investigating the affair – and the media has also been trying hard to put together the scraps of evidence that have so…
Swiss agent suspected of exposing German tax sleuths
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Valentin Landmann, the suspect’s lawyer, told Swiss public radio, SRF, on Monday that his client is a security consultant working primarily in the financial sector – also for Swiss institutions. However, he did not confirm that the 54-year-old man had a mandate from the Swiss intelligence service as alleged by the German justice authorities. The…
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.