Fighting corruption: New reporting platform
In the fight against corruption, Switzerland's law enforcement agencies have a new tool at their disposal: The web-based reporting platform at www.korruptionsbekaempfung.ch. It guarantees a certain degree of anonymity for witnesses and whistleblowers, the authorities emphasize.
Corruption causes great financial and immaterial damage to the state, the economy and society. Switzerland is actively engaged in the fight against corruption at national and international level. The strengthening of criminal prosecution of corruption is just as central as the protection of witnesses and whistleblowers. The new reporting platform should support this effectively, as the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) and the Federal Office of Police (fedpol) emphasize.
Acts of corruption would often remain hidden. For law enforcement agencies, the knowledge of insiders is therefore a decisive factor. The new reporting platform creates an important additional source of information for new investigative approaches. Since the reporting platform guarantees anonymity, protection against reprisals - for example by employers - is guaranteed. This lowers the inhibition threshold for whistleblowers.
Anonymous tips possible
If a person has information about possible acts of corruption, he or she can submit a report anonymously on the new reporting platform. According to fedpol, the reporting platform is located on a server outside the federal administration. Without the consent of the person making the report, it is not possible for the law enforcement authorities to determine their identity. The platform does, however, allow the law enforcement authorities to contact the person making the report in order to obtain additional information or to provide information on how to proceed.
The reports received on the platform would be checked for their relevance to criminal law and passed on to the relevant commissioner's office within fedpol. If the report falls under cantonal jurisdiction, it is forwarded to the relevant cantonal police. The new platform complements the existing contact point of the Swiss Federal Audit Office (SFAO) for national reports concerning the federal administration.
Similar reporting platforms exist in Germany and Austria, for example. There, positive experiences have been made with this, as the report concludes.
