“Golden brake block” for Federal Councillor Keller-Sutter
Published: Tuesday, Oct 31st 2023, 18:51
Updated At: Wednesday, Nov 1st 2023, 00:55
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The 2023 "Golden Brake Block" journalism prize goes to Federal Councilor Karin Keller-Sutter. The Federal Council declared the takeover of Credit Suisse (CS) by UBS a secret matter, for which the finance minister in charge receives the receipt, the reasoning goes.
Although the public is liable for the transaction to the tune of 209 billion francs, it remains denied access to important information, the Investigativ.ch research network announced on Tuesday. Its more than 350 members formed the jury.
Based on an emergency decree, many aspects of the takeover were classified information, according to a communiqué. For example, the state government kept liquidity assistance and default guarantees secret. Accordingly, media representatives were rebuffed in their inquiries by the dozen.
This was questionable in terms of state policy, because maximum transparency would have been required in the CS crisis. The Public Information Act would have provided sufficient safeguards for sensitive business information. The Federal Public Information Commissioner, the National Council's State Policy Commission and legal experts would also criticize the secrecy policy.
The award ceremony took place on Tuesday without a prize winner. A personal handover in Bern failed at the entrance of the Federal Department of Finance (FDF), as a video shows.
©Keystone/SDA
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