Crypto leak: Investigator allowed to investigate investigator

The Crypto device at the centre of the affair Keystone / Ennio Leanza

The justice ministry has given special public prosecutor Stephan Zimmerli the green light to open criminal proceedings against Peter Marti, himself a special public prosecutor, in connection with the Crypto spying affair.

The scandal, which came to light in February 2020, involves manipulated encryption devices made by Zug-based firm Crypto which the CIA and the German intelligence agency used to spy on half the world.

The authorisation is not an indication of guilt or innocence, the justice ministry said on Tuesday.

Marti, a former judge and district attorney, was appointed in January 2021 as a special public prosecutor to look into the violations of official secrecy that took place during the investigation. Information from the confidential draft of the inspection report had ended up in the hands of certain media, causing serious institutional damage for parliament’s business audit commissions, the supervisory authority for the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) said.

In September 2021 it became known that criminal charges had also been filed against Marti. Zimmerli has now been appointed to investigate the allegations.

The OAG’s supervisory authority did not disclose who had filed the complaint, but according to the Tamedia newspapers and BlickExternal link, the complaint is said to have come from Peter Lauener, the former head of communications at the interior ministry. He is reportedly accusing Marti of abuse of office. Lauener was the focus of Marti’s investigations into an information leak in the Crypto affair.

According to the SonntagsBlick, Lauener was temporarily remanded in custody.

On Tuesday Marti did not want to comment when asked by the Keystone-SDA Swiss news agency. “I am not commenting on the justice ministry’s media release or the fact that an accused person has filed a criminal complaint against me as an investigator,” he said.

International spying operation

The audit committee investigation was prompted by revelations in February 2020 that Zug-based firm Crypto was at the heart of a huge international spying operation led by the CIA but also involving the German BND spy service.

More than 100 countries bought the encryption devices from the company, which did business under the guise of Swiss neutrality. In reality, the firm belonged to the CIA and German intelligence service, which could freely read what it encrypted. Information intercepted with the help of Crypto’s devices changed the course of events including the Iran hostage situation in 1979.

The Swiss government claims it was informed about the scandal in autumn 2019.