Facts
On January 8, 1993, the Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM) initiated criminal proceedings against the company S. on suspicion of a violation of the Telecommunications Act. The company was accused of dealing in unauthorized modems. In the course of the investigation, various searches and seizures were carried out by investigating officers of the PTT (Swiss Postal, Telephone and Telegraph) companies.
The managing director S. requested the OFCOM to recuse the involved investigating officers as well as Vice-Director R. and his deputy. The OFCOM rejected the request for recusal. Thereupon, S. filed a complaint with the Indictment Chamber of the Federal Supreme Court.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court stated that the deployment of PTT officers to conduct the administrative criminal investigation against the complainant as a competitor of the PTT companies is in contradiction to the will of the legislator. The legislator intended to transfer the sovereign tasks from the PTT companies to the Federal Administration by creating the Federal Office of Communications in order to avoid conflicts of interest.
Since the PTT companies are in competition with the complainant in the area of subscriber equipment,…