Switzerland is getting rid of its attorney general – not for the first time. The damage to the reputation of the country is immense, and that includes the financial market. What is going wrong at this key office in Bern?

Michael Lauber's reign as attorney general of Switzerland started amid high hopes and is now ending in tears. When the lawyer and financial market expert took over from predecessor Erwin Beyeler in 2012, official Switzerland was expecting great things, proof of which was his near-unanimous appointment by parliament.

His career had been rapid enough – taking him from the CID in Bern to head of the Financial Action Task Force of Liechtenstein, later the position as head of the principality's banking association and chairman of the financial market supervision.

It is well worth remembering that when Lauber took up his work in Liechtenstein, the tiny country wedged between Switzerland, Germany and Austria, was best known for its countless foundations and very discrete bankers.

Destined for a Big Job

Lauber, who hadn't joined a political party (unlike like some of his predecessors) was to put his profound knowledge of the financial market at the disposal of an authority that had been through rough years already. Switzerland was in urgent need of a modern, professional organization that would help restore the reputation of the country and Lauber seemed the right man for it.

Since the U.S. in the past century had developed a penchant to rectify what it deemed had gone wrong in Switzerland (dormant accounts and Nazi gold), the judiciary of this powerful nation didn't let up, relentlessly pounding the financial market for all it was worth. Official Switzerland wasn't successful in preventing further damage after the first assaults and the attorney general's office contributed to it.

Information Taken From a Drugdealer

One of Lauber's predecessors, Valentin Roschacher, stumbled over an affaire involving a Zurich-based banker, Oskar Holenweger. The main shareholder and CEO of Tempus Bank came under suspicion of money laundering and was taken into custody in 2003. On April 21, 2011, he was acquitted at the federal court in Lugano. The case was highly embarrassing for Switzerland, not least because the suspicion was based upon the information provided by a drugdealer, José Manuel Ramos.

The following years instead brought a renovation of the Swiss financial system that was instigated by foreign authorities, and it wasn't all to the best of the country's banks of course. Switzerland today is rid of its reputation as a haven of tax evaders, but equally so of numerous banks and job opportunities. Some of what was given up in Switzerland has found new homes, controlled by the U.S.

Complex Investigations

An independent attorney's office hence is of utmost importance for Switzerland. An office that is able to complete complex investigations. The attorney general is not least a key organ also for an economy that rightly has claimed the rule of law as a key quality.

Lauber's colleagues have had some success in recent years under his guidance. One of them was the guilty verdict against Hervé Falciani for stealing bank data. Other investigations came to nothing and the most prominent of all, the probe of Fifa, eventually caused the downfall of Lauber.

Deeply Unfortunate

The departure, the lifting of his immunity and impending investigation of Lauber are deeply unsettling for the office in Bern – and most unfortunate for the country. One can argue that Switzerland has actually done quite well in showing that misdemeanors aren't just being brushed aside and kept secret – even if of course they haven't been proven in court.

And yet, what remains, are bad feelings. Who would want to take on the challenge as attorney general? Will the office need to be reformed – again? Or put differently: it can't just be the individuals in the hot seat who cause the authority to be embroiled in such acrimonious affairs.