Michael Lauber: Can he bring Sepp Blatter crashing down?

michael lauber

Sepp Blatter is getting all lawyered up, a sign he’s getting mighty worried. He’s hired Richard Cullen, a former US federal prosecutor and the chairman of McGuireWoods, a law firm. That is because the investigations into FIFA corruption have now turned much closer to home, literally in Blatter’s backyard as the Swiss attorney general, Michael Lauber is now looking into 53 possible cases of money laundering involving the 2018 and 2022 World Cup.

The OAG has seized 9 terabytes of data from the Geneva offices of FIFA which they are combing through, a vast and complex task which will take time. The Swiss investigations were triggered through the heavily censored Michael Garcia report, the ongoing DOJ and FBI investigations into previous World Cup bribery, and suspicious money transfers reported through the Swiss Financial intelligence unit. These investigations are independent of the US DOJ and FBI but Lauber did not rule out exchange of relevant information which could potentially shed light on these illegal financial transactions.

Lauber has stated that he will not hesitate to question Sepp Blatter and Jerome Valcke should the need arise. Blatter of late has started making some noise about retaining his FIFA presidency if a suitable successor is not appointed. A move Domenico Scala, chairman of Fifa’s audit and compliance committee vehemently opposes. Scala also made it clear if sufficient evidence of vote buying was uncovered then the 2018 and 2022 World Cups could be invalidated.

So who is Michael Lauber? He studied law at the University of Berne and served in the Swiss Army in a tank regiment. In 1995, he was appointed as head of the Organized Crime Unit of the Federal Police, a post he held for five years. Those years Lauber headed a team dubbed as Koller’s young Mafia hunters, named after Arnold Koller, the Swiss justice minister tasked with cracking down on cyber criminals and Russian oligarchs. However, the sometimes ponderous and bureaucratic nature of these investigations were not to his liking and he resigned after a power struggle. But before he left he already had the makings of a master communicator, open and eloquent in his meetings with the press and government officials.

After spending a year, as managing director of PolyReg, a financial intermediary company, he found a second life as Liechtenstein’s manager and chief architect of its Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), at a time when the principality was coming under pressure to clamp down on money laundering. Lauber went about modernizing the data collection and analysis of the FIU doing away with the cumbersome money counting machines favoured by the banks and its trustees. In this he was supported by Prince Hans Adam II, Lichtenstein’s ruler and the government. Siemens was brought in to build a forensic database. The FIU was primed for uncovering money laundering when Sept 11 happened. Suddenly Lauber’s expertise was sought after for charting money flows between Al Qaeda and its various branches. He became the chief interlocutor tipping of various law enforcement. Lauber was now being called to establish similar set ups similar to the FIU in many countries including Germany.

In 2004, the Lichtenstein Bankers Association decided Lauber was their ideal managing director and hired him. A prescient move as it later turned out as the world collapsed for the principality when the 2008 tax scandal hit after Klaus Zumwinkelm the CEO of Deutsche Post was arrested for tax evasion for black money accounts in LGT, a bank owned by the royal family. Thousands of Germans had parked their money in Lichtenstein and Swiss banks avoiding millions in taxes. The tip off came from a bank IT technician allegedly bribed by the German BDN (Financial Intelligence Unit) turned in a disk containing information of thousands of bank accounts. The relationship between the principality and the German government quickly turned sour. Other countries followed suit including the USA where the Senate financial subcommittee estimated US taxpayers had evaded $100 million in tax by opening undisclosed LGT accounts.

Lauber said at that time “it was like a volcanic eruption”. The principality was a media circus, swarming with journos and talk show rabble rousers as the Prince, government officials, and bankers melted into the background. Lauber was left to handle the crisis all on his own and reveled in the spotlight, commanding the news shows and media interviews. He was forthright, communicative, and as a former anti Mafia official, commanded respect. With his mantra of “With me there is zero tolerance for criminal acts in Lichtenstein” he was a reassuring figure. Matthias Voigt, Chairman of the Liechtenstein Investment Fund Association was full of praise: “Thanks to him, Germany has seen: Liechtenstein is more than just mailboxes, it also has people of integrity and honour”

Lichtenstein wasn’t the only country in need of reform. Citizens of Lauber’s own country of Switzerland were funneling millions into LGT while Swiss banking giants UBS were encouraging opening undisclosed offshore accounts. Lauber had by then decided the status quo needed to change and he became Switzerland’s first elected AG to introduce legislative reform to its banking sector. But his first act as AG was a provocative one, to issue an arrest warrant for three German tax inspectors who had paid for that stolen data and broken Switzerland’s strict banking privacy laws. The angered Germans responded by deeming the inspectors as heroes.

At stake, a deal that would see Swiss authorities tax and fine those German accounts in return for non-disclosure to the German government. It made Lauber wildly popular but at the same time privately pushing for that deal which would require Parliamentary approval. This is how he operated in Lichtenstein, keeping the royal family guessing, creating a distance between him. Publicly he was cordial to them but privately he was somewhat more scathing, vowing respect to the Constitution, not to God, the Prince, or the Fatherland.

Already, he’s quickened the pace of trying economic offenders by ridding the system of duplication between public prosecutors and investigative judges. The AG’s office already has 250 cases of which 143 are newly opened. Including complex cases of economic crime, money laundering and organized crime, as well as cases of federal jurisdiction, such as espionage, terrorist methods and corruption of federal officials. There is indeed a new sheriff in town as the federal prosecutors have discovered. “I trust you,” Michael Lauber called out to them on the occasion of his presentation speech. This much is known: The new attorney is an experienced communicator. “Communication is absolutely crucial,” he says, “I will not hide anything.”

The AG is obviously on the right track because he was just voted yesterday to a new four year term. As for Sepp Blatter, there are some ominous signs in that Lauber was raised Catholic, his father a priest in charge of a church, but never subscribed to the Pope’s infallibility or other church dogma. He was anti-radical, anti-extreme, politically more liberal. Lauber’s brother said his interest in law derived from his desire to non-judgmentally shape the social order. He also developed an early reputation for being goal driven without being off putting using his personal charm and quiet intensity. He’s also willing to bide his time.

“The world of Football needs to be patient. By its nature, this investigation will take more than the legendary 90 minutes.” Hopefully, Lauber’s investigation brings to an end Sepp Blatter and his corrosive legacy and the world of football can then proceed to resurrect itself.

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