Federal Court removes fraud case from Geneva Public Prosecutor's Office
The Federal Court determined that the independence of the Geneva Public Prosecutor's Office could be compromised in a fraud case involving the father of Prosecutor-General Olivier Jornot.
Federal Court removes fraud case from Geneva Public Prosecutor's Office
In an unusual decision, federal judges have removed a criminal procedure for fraud from the entire Geneva Public Prosecutor's Office. The reason: a possible conflict of interest involving Prosecutor-General Olivier Jornot, whose father is the alleged victim.
According to the NZZ, Jornot's 91-year-old father filed a complaint in late October 2025 against a man presenting himself as a painter, of French nationality and belonging to the travelling community. Geneva magistrate Elsa Studer was tasked with investigating the case. The suspect was arrested in January following repeated calls to the victim's home and suspicious bank movements.
The accused is suspected of commercial fraud, or even usury. According to the charges, he allegedly deceived Jornot's father with accomplices since at least June 2025. He reportedly presented himself at his home as an employee of a fictional company, persuading him to have painting and renovation work carried out at exorbitant prices. The total amount paid by the victim amounted to 270,500 francs.
Shortly afterwards, defence counsel Claudio Fedele requested the recusal of prosecutor Studer as well as the entire Geneva Public Prosecutor's Office. He argued that Jornot's father had filed a complaint, and whilst Jornot was not directly competent in this matter, he headed the institution on which the investigating magistrate depended. A risk of appearance of bias therefore existed.
The Court of Appeal of the Canton of Geneva rejected this request, finding that there was no institutional basis to claim that Studer and her colleagues were subordinate to the Prosecutor-General. The courts and prosecutors are independent and answer only to the law, they ruled.
The federal judges, however, adopted a different position and accepted the application. In their ruling published on Tuesday, they acknowledged the independence of prosecutors in conducting criminal procedures. Nevertheless, they found that it could not be ruled out that magistrate Studer and her colleagues "find themselves in difficulty or feel a certain unease when making decisions that will inevitably have consequences for the Prosecutor-General". The particular circumstances of the case as well as the hierarchical and supervisory powers of the Prosecutor-General contributed to this, according to the Federal Court.
Furthermore, as Jornot was the legal heir to the claimed damage of approximately 270,500 francs, he had a personal interest in this matter. It was also not ruled out that he might be heard in this procedure. Thus, it had to be acknowledged that the position of the Prosecutor-General within the Geneva judiciary could exceptionally indirectly influence the conduct of the criminal procedure, wrote the federal judges.
Following this decision, the Geneva judiciary appointed Bernard Dénéréaz, a Vaud prosecutor, as special prosecutor. However, defence counsel Fedele also contests this appointment. According to him, the impartiality of the investigation is not guaranteed, as Dénéréaz appears on the Geneva Public Prosecutor's Office list in the category of extraordinary prosecutors.
Source: NZZ