Swiss parliamentary committee blasts supervision of military tech firm

The Control Committee of the Swiss Senate has identified several shortcomings in the federal government's management of arms manufacturer RUAG MRO. + Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox It criticised the handling of a whistleblower report and late compliance requirements. + Switzerland eases arms export rules as industry shunned by Europe The investigation was triggered by inconsistencies in a planned sale of 96 Leopard 1 tanks to Germany by Ruag in 2023. The committee calls for improvements in supervision by RUAG's owner - the Department of Defence (DDPS). The Commission finds it "difficult to understand" that the DDPS failed to recognise in 2019 that the Ruag management's statement failed to refute the most important allegation from the whistleblowing report, namely the sale of material at significantly below market prices. The government also failed to scrutinise the group's overly positive reporting and provided insufficient information to Parliament. In ...