The Swiss Federal Audit Office (SFAO) audited the implementation of the four recommendations it made in its evaluation of international mutual assistance in criminal matters, published in 2020. They were addressed to the Federal Office of Justice (FOJ). The FOJ rejected one recommendation, partially accepted two and fully accepted one. At the time of the follow-up audit, the FOJ reported two as implemented and requested an extension until the end of 2026 for one recommendation. This follow-up audit covered the accepted recommendation and the accepted parts of the two other recommendations. In addition, the SFAO checked whether a deadline extension was justified.
During the evaluation conducted in 2020, the SFAO found that the FOJ, in its oversight role, was not informed promptly and accurately enough about the activities of the cantonal mutual assistance authorities. Furthermore, the statistical information base for requests made abroad by the cantonal prosecution authorities was incomplete. With regard to the data basis for the FOJ’s oversight role, the SFAO found at the time of the evaluation that the FOJ’s case management system was used mainly for correspondence. The creation of relevant statistics for controlling purposes was complicated from a technical viewpoint. The SFAO’s evaluation also attributed enforcement inconsistencies to the most important legal basis, the Federal Act on International Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters (IMAC). Due to the provisions in the IMAC on the right of appeal and the sealing of evidence, proceedings can be very lengthy. Moreover, the right of appeal means that those concerned are informed about ongoing proceedings. The strategic use of these provisions can also influence the outcome of proceedings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","audit_category":[81],"audit_type":[51],"class_list":["post-39143","audit","type-audit","status-publish","hentry","audit_category-justice-and-police","audit_type-audit"],"acf":{"audit_lang":null,"audit_numbers":[{"audit_number":"24266"}],"audit_office":[1257],"audit_office_text":"","audit_date":"20250630","bgo":false,"keywords":"","audit_office_local":""},"yoast_head":"\n