After the debacle in which top officials are blackmailed: GPK wants to keep an eye on Amherd

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This does not shed a good light on federal security mechanisms. Of all people, the new State Secretary for Security would have been a security risk himself. That is why Jean-Daniel Ruch (60) is not taking up the position. It is a bitter setback for Defense Minister Viola Amherd (61).

But it gets worse: Parliament does not want to let the matter rest. That is why the National Council Audit Committee (GPK) is now being called into action. “The GPK will investigate to what extent it is addressing the issue,” says outgoing president Prisca Birrer-Heimo (64). Those responsible will have to ask unpleasant questions.

Amherd does not recognize any mistakes in himself

Blick research showed: Ruch’s lifestyle could make him vulnerable to blackmail. This included prostitution in Swiss embassies. As ambassador, Ruch underwent the last enhanced personal security screening (PSP), the highest level of security checks in the federal government, in 2019. This PSP expires every five years.

To fill the highly sensitive position, the VBS would have been free to commission another PSP before Ruch got the top job. But Amherd’s department decided not to do so.

A search committee was set up for this purpose, including Secretary General Markus Seiler (54) of Foreign Affairs. The ex-chief of the secret service also seemed unconcerned about Ruch’s staff. In other words, all security mechanisms have failed.

Amherd doesn’t want to see any mistakes in himself. She would have made this clear to the Security Policy Committee. “She insisted that there was a PSP that was still valid,” a committee member reveals. The VBS wants to have adhered to the applicable guidelines.

Not an isolated case in the VBS

However, a large part of the committee would take the position that a new security check would have been appropriate, especially for such a sensitive position as the country’s top security official. The fact that the DDPS decided not to do this was a “gross mistake”.

Added: This is not an isolated case. Only in the spring did it become known that a former air force security chief had become a security risk himself. Private debt would have made him vulnerable to corruption. Spicy: The problems could have been discovered before his promotion. Even then there was no security check. Reliance was placed on the validity of the latter.

The GPK had already examined the safety checks of personnel in 2008. The reason was the appointment of Roland Nef (64) as army leader. The then Minister of Defense Samuel Schmid (76) “misjudged the fact that there were criminal proceedings against Nef for coercion and other crimes and therefore did not exercise due care in this case,” the GPK criticized.

Now the mistakes of that time seem to be repeating themselves. “The question arises whether the recommendations made at the time are always implemented,” says GPK chairman Birrer-Heimo.

Source:Blick