Swiss Attorney-General Narrowly Re-Elected After FIFA Scandal

(Bloomberg) -- Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber was narrowly re-elected to a third term as the country’s top prosecutor after he was caught up in a scandal over undisclosed meetings he held with the boss of soccer governing body FIFA amid an ongoing corruption investigation.

Lauber was supported by 129 lawmakers out of 243 total votes, just clearing the 122-vote threshold for a third term, according to a local media report published Wednesday on the parliament’s website.

Lauber was ordered in June to recuse himself from the FIFA probe after the Swiss Federal Criminal Court ruled he and two deputies violated key procedural rules when they failed to report and document three meetings with FIFA head Gianni Infantino. Lauber has previously said he doesn’t lie and didn’t conceal the meetings, and that they were necessary for legal proceedings.

The Swiss parliament’s judiciary committee decided by a vote of 9 to 6 with one abstention earlier this month to not recommend his re-election ahead of Tuesday’s vote, in a sign of how close the ballot would be. Nevertheless, Lauber said in a statement Tuesday he was grateful for Parliament’s confidence in him.

“We will continue with the reforms we have begun to ensure that the OAG remains an independent, contemporary and effective prosecution authority and a reliable partner,” he said.

--With assistance from Leonard Kehnscherper.

To contact the reporter on this story: Hugo Miller in Geneva at hugomiller@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Aarons at aaarons@bloomberg.net, Peter Chapman, Jan Dahinten

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