Your call caused a political scandal

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In December 1988, Justice Minister Elisabeth Kopp was re-elected for a second term with good results. But just over a month later, on January 12, 1989, it’s over. At a media conference, Kopp announced her immediate resignation.

A phone call with her husband Hans W. Kopp had killed her. The federal councilor called him to urge him to resign from the board of directors of Shakarchi Trading AG. The Swiss foreign exchange and gold trading company was being investigated for suspicion of money laundering, the justice minister has learned.

Hans W. Kopp then resigned – the media suspected a tip from his wife. First, both the federal councilor and her husband denied. Despite the media pressure, Kopp is re-elected.

A few days after the election it came out: Kopp was not telling the truth. She admits that she informed her husband. On December 12, 1988, she announces her resignation at the end of February 1989, but still sees herself as equal. “I have no legal or moral guilt,” she told the media. Kopp took the position that she learned about the investigation from her personal assistant. She thought they were rumors from the banking world, not information from within the department.

Then the hammer

On January 11, 1989, the gavel followed: Special Investigator Hans Hungerbühler, appointed by the Federal Council, strongly suspected that the Federal Councilor had violated professional secrecy. Kopp resigns with immediate effect.

As a result, the National Council and the Council of States have set up a Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (PUK). The PUK, led by the future Federal Councilor Moritz Leuenberger (76), will bring the chip scandal to light, among other things, concludes that it was not the phone call that was the biggest problem, but Kopp’s inability to admit this mistake. However, the report also states that Kopp “discharged her office competently, prudently and with diligence”.

In 1990, the Federal Criminal Court acquitted Kopp of charges of violating official secrets. It cannot prove that the federal councilor knew where the information she passed on came from. The relief comes too late for Kopp.

Source:Blick