Swiss A-G’s saga

ZURICH - Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber offered to resign yesterday after a court concluded he covered up a meeting with FIFA head Gianni Infantino and lied to supervisors while his office investigated corruption surrounding soccer’s governing body.

The 54-year-old, who has been Switzerland’s most senior state lawyer since 2012, denied lying but offered to resign to protect the reputation of his institution.

“If they (the court) do not believe me as attorney general, then the Office of the Attorney General will be harmed,” he said in a statement.

Lauber had clung to his job despite damning reports from a government watchdog and calls to quit from campaigners over slow progress in corruption cases ranging from Brazil’s Petrobras to Malaysian state fund 1MDB.

Narrowly re-elected last year, he was also facing a parliamentary impeachment process, while a special prosecutor is reviewing criminal complaints against him.

“During the protracted time it has taken Lauber to go, he has managed to systematically run down the institution of the Attorney General’s office,” said Mark Pieth, a law professor who is Switzerland’s best-known corruption fighter. Although FIFA is very interesting, the really serious stuff for Switzerland as a financial centre are the cases like 1MDB and Petrobras ... It’s embarrassing it’s taken so long for him to go.”