The role of the cantonal prosecutors

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The large corruption cases in the commodity trade have been prosecuted by the Office of the Attorney General, which has jurisdiction over bribery of foreign officials and money laundering where the offences were committed predominantly abroad or in several cantons.¹ The cantonal prosecutors of Zug retain jurisdiction for offences with a local focus, such as fraud, forgery and misappropriation committed by companies and individuals in the canton. They also handle many of the cases of economic crime that arise in the companies registered in Zug. The Staatsanwaltschaft des Kantons Zug has a department for economic crime whose prosecutors have experience with the typical offences of a canton with many holding and trading companies: the misuse of companies for fraud, the misappropriation of assets by directors, the forgery of documents and the concealment of assets from creditors.²

The cantonal prosecutors also play an important role in mutual assistance. Requests from foreign authorities for documents and information held by companies and banks in Zug are often executed by the cantonal authorities. The companies concerned have the right to participate in the procedure and to appeal against the transmission of information. For a canton with a large number of international companies, mutual assistance is a significant part of the prosecutors' work. It is also the channel through which foreign investigations of the conduct of Zug companies abroad reach the canton.

Notes

Art. 24 para. 1 StPO (SR 312.0), swissrights.ch: federal jurisdiction for offences under Art. 260ter, 260quinquies, 260sexies, 305bis, 305ter and 322ter–322septies StGB where they were committed to a substantial extent abroad or in several cantons without a clear focus in one canton. ↩
Canton of Zug, Staatskalender, "Staatsanwaltschaft", staka.zug.ch: the public prosecutor's office comprises the I. Abteilung (Allgemeine Delikte), the II. Abteilung (Wirtschaftsdelikte), the III. Abteilung and the IV. Abteilung (Jugendstrafverfahren), plus a unit for international legal assistance. ↩

For general information only. This article does not constitute legal or tax advice, does not replace advice on an individual case and creates no lawyer-client relationship. It reflects the legal position as of September 2025.

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The role of the cantonal prosecutors

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